My portable gaming girlfriend

Guiyue City.

Monica brought out a plate containing several freshly baked cookies.

"Creamy, would you like to try it?"

Even though the plates were pushed up to his face, the boy sitting in front of the computer remained indifferent.

Seeing that the boy ignored him, Monica sighed and complained:

"Hey... what's the point of this? I've watched you play this game for three days! You can just change the game, I'm really tired of watching..."

"No, I'm trying to clear the level quickly. The current record is 1 minute and 43 seconds. I want to try to clear the level in 1 minute and 30 seconds."

Only when it comes to games does the teenager respond. He never speaks in a hurry and without emotion.

"How boring are you? You might as well chat with me. I don't dare to go out anyway. I'm almost suffocated to stay in the house for three days. You know it's three full days. I've never been in a place before. I've been in the room for so long."

"..."

The boy ignored her. And Monica has gotten used to talking to herself in the past three days. She used her fingers to curl the hair hanging from the temples over and over again, and let it go again.

"Fortunately, people here are relatively stupid. The windows don't know how to lock them. I can easily climb into the house. Otherwise, we wouldn't even have food."

"..."

"But I don't need to eat, we just feel the 'hungry' thing... Forget it, I just want to cook anyway! I'm so bored! Hey, I spent an hour making cookies, what are you doing? Do you want to eat or not?"

Monica picked up a cookie and dangled it in front of the boy's eyes. This action caused the boy's game character to die on the way to the challenge.

He looked at Monica with silent eyes, but after three days, Monica was no longer afraid.

She knew that the boy would not be rough on her, he was just playing games besides sleeping.

However, this time, the boy took the cookie in her hand, put the whole piece into his mouth, chewed a few mouthfuls and swallowed it.

"Hey, you actually ate it? But why did you swallow it without chewing? Fortunately, the cookies I made were relatively small, otherwise you might have choked to death! So it seems that I saved you, you should thank me, you know?"

"I won't eat your cookies for free. I will help you if I have something to do in the future."

The boy started to continue the challenge under his hands.

"Hmph... Forget it, tell me, is it delicious?"

Monica asked with implicit expectation.

"so so."

The girl immediately raised her eyebrows:

"Hey, you really can't speak... But I didn't expect you to say something nice. Forget it, I don't have to trouble you all the time. It's just that I won't go back until I find out the truth, but I will always stay here I will be discovered sooner or later... I will change to a new place tomorrow."

"..."

The boy ignored her.

"You know what? I'm just an ordinary high school girl. I know saying I'm ordinary seems like a cover-up, but it shouldn't be a big secret that I'm a part-time idol, right? Other than that, it's really nothing... ..."

The girl recalled that she was an ordinary high school student six months ago. As a left-behind girl of Japanese-English mixed race whose parents are working abroad, she goes to a private high school in Guiyue City alone and enjoys herself.

There is no need to worry about food and clothing in life, but the only trouble is that life remains unchanged. Sometimes she rests her chin and stares at the mosquitoes flying in front of the lights of the projector in the classroom, or observes the green radish planted in the teacher's office through the window, and watches the clouds move slowly in the sky.

Everything about ordinary life bores her, until an advertisement is dragged across the sky by a hot air balloon.

"Become...an idol?"

"You don't need to spend a dollar to register as an idol?"

A fire ignited in her heart, and this was the turnaround she wanted.

——Of course she already knows now that all that is not a gift of fate at all, but her destined future.

Somewhere, she was swept forward by the turbulent flow of fate, powerless to resist.

She logged on to the website after school and sent an application email. She received a reply early the next morning, asking her to find time to go to the Priji headquarters to register on-site, bring her ID, and then arrange an agent for her.

She checked the information a little and found out that privately registered idols are very popular in today's world, and idol companies are also flourishing, and Priji is the largest privately registered idol company among them.

Even if these people register as idols, the company will not care too much about them, and will only arrange a "professional" agent for them, who will be responsible for arranging their performances and training schedules.

"...What's going on, there is a feeling of being manipulated."

At the moment of signing, Monica suddenly had such an idea.

No matter what, she is an idol after signing, at least street performance is a legal act for her.

The mobile communication software has a new friend, who is the manager arranged by Pu Liji for her.

Monica didn't have a good impression of this agent. They had never met before, but she always felt that this man was a bit wretched. Since she added him as a friend, her life felt like she was being watched all the time.

For example, the agent said to her, "You have an exam tomorrow, so don't go to perform today." She was not moved by the other party's thoughtfulness, but her first thought was, "How did he know that I had an exam tomorrow?" '

But she understands that she is just an unknown little idol, and she has no possibility of resistance.

After class she played the guitar in the dim lights of the Underground, danced on the Promenade in the Harbor District, and sang in the Garden District.

Said that in order to increase the dependence of fans, the manager asked her to live broadcast some life clips, and she reluctantly agreed after bearing with it.

3 months ago, she met the 'graduation' standard. The former manager agreed without hesitation to let her sign with Lege Company. She is no longer a private idol, but an idol under the unified management of Lege Company.

She no longer needs to line up after school or get up early on weekends just to occupy the best position in the garden area for street performances. She is arranged to enter a professional air-conditioned studio and wear tailor-made clothes for her. The latest received The task is to represent the company to participate in the idol trainee audition program "Perfect Girl".

Judging from the resources obtained, the company's expectations for her are good. But she still feels troubled. Sometimes when she finished recording the song and caught the last subway in the cool breeze, she would suddenly stop and look up at the LOGO on the tall building in a daze, feeling that the world was unreal. Until one day, she received a mysterious text message...

【Login to the game...】

[Username: Shi Yuanxing]

I, Shen Qing, Xiwu and Feifei stepped on the steps from the subway to the ground, leading to the virtual city.

After passing the last flight of stairs, there are dizzying billboards in front of you. The glass walls of tall buildings in the distance under the black night sky reflect dazzling colors.

This is the main venue of the game, Guiyue City, and in front of us is the iconic square in the center of the four regions, Guiyue Square.

Everything around is imitating the style of construction 50 years ago. Commercial advertisements are displayed on flat LCD screens. Music is played from several fixed speakers. The glass of high-rise buildings does not emit light. People ride shared bicycles with uniform colors. White, constructing a retro city.

In "Idol Cultivation Project", Guiyue City is a virtual city that can accommodate 100,000 NPCs operated by the virtual game department of Martha Entertainment. Lege Entertainment, a subsidiary of Martha Entertainment, is the largest virtual idol operating company here, managing more than 3,200 virtual idols. There are also some virtual idol operating companies that accept privately registered idols, allowing ordinary players to register artificial intelligence companions that take out external experiences and inject false memories as virtual idols. The registration fee is only 200 yuan.

Although the idols operated by Lege Entertainment have been carefully designed by a professional team and are generally more attractive, the registered idols of ordinary players will occasionally be discovered with a few ingenious highlights.

The strength of a virtual idol is quantitatively evaluated by popularity. A player’s registered idol must have a popularity value higher than 10 million before unlocking all commercial activity licenses, such as accepting advertisements and starring in virtual movies.

However, the official idols can only live in Guiyue City before their popularity reaches 10 million, and they cannot accept commercial single stations to make money. For virtual idols, Guiyue City is the real world. They have complete childhood and youth memories, and they will not know that they are just virtual idols. Players act as their agents to communicate with them by phone, and their daily life will also be arranged by the players whether to broadcast live to fans.

Players can only be active in the office and at home when running an idol. In order to ensure the normal operation of this virtual city, Martha Entertainment only sells 6,000 'tickets' per day for players to enter the city for tours.

All players must sign an agreement, the most important of which is 'Do not disclose Guiyue City to the NPCs in the game as a virtual city'. Violators will bear the cost of NPC memory cleaning and even large-scale world resets. The maximum may reach 3000000.

Feifei is a registered idol who doesn't need a ticket. Ye Yin suddenly had to prepare for a club event and couldn't come. The three of us who were left took the free tickets provided by Shen Qing, but didn't spend a penny.

The city is divided into 4 areas, namely the dock area, the garden area, the underground block and the sky block.

Both the underground street and the dock area are the main venues for street performances. Idols with a celebrity value of less than 1 million can only perform in the underground street. Idols with a celebrity value of 1 million to 10 million can perform in the dock area and the garden area. The sky street area only provides commercial performances. event venue.

Idols can perform for free on the streets of the first three areas, and they can borrow studio performances for a fee, and the cost depends on the duration of the performance.

We first went to the underground block to search. According to Shen Qing's analysis, if Monica Inoue really has self-awareness and escapes the control of Lege Entertainment, then the underground block with complex terrain and many performers because of no threshold will be the most likely hiding place.

The underground block is not built underground, but is composed of intricate bridge holes. The bridge hole inside is a good place for registered idols who have no resources in the early stage to increase their reputation at a low cost. Official idols usually only go to Huayuan District and Tianjie District, and will never come here, which is why Shen Qing suspects that our target will hide here.

but--

"This place is so big, do we want to go all over here?"

In the game "Idol Cultivation Project", the ratio of the time in the urban area to the real time is 1:1. If you do a blanket search this week, don't do anything, just press the road every day.

"You think I want to spend all my time on this? The programmers have a new script and will help us find her."

Shen Qing glanced at me.

"The programmer is free now? Or is he also looking for a helmet?"

In my impression, the programmer is an old man with a weird temper, and he is always busy. With this technology, it is impossible to be short of money. I don't think he will help.

"He said that every mission we go through is dangerous and useless. In order to prevent the uncontrolled loss of DEBUG personnel, he will spend more time helping us in the future. Can you solve your problem?"

Is it just you who serve... I dare not say this to Shen Qing.

We picked a small bridge hole and walked in, and suddenly it was another world.

Idols of acting are everywhere.

There are solo and group performances, as well as singing, dancing and rap.

In this game, idols are also divided into various styles, each targeting different markets. The male and female markets are distinct, but not without overlap.

In the light hidden by the lights, the entrance of the tunnel when we came was more than a hundred steps away. Both sides of the tunnel are full of shops, selling snacks such as skewers, octopus balls, and milk tea.

In the middle of this hustle and bustle, is the performance of the registered idols.

We are focusing on young women due to target attributes. But even young women come in a variety, mixing and matching elements in different styles.

For example, on the right, I saw two registered idols in sci-fi-style tight driving suits and light gauze ancient costumes forming a group, one dancing and the other singing, and they all stepped on the music.

"I've been performing here!"

Started proudly patted her chest.

"Didn't you just play for a week? And what do you perform, can you sing and dance?"

As soon as I entered the game, I read Feifei's profile and found that she is indeed a registered idol with a popularity value of 170,000.

As for how her AI registered herself as an idol, she couldn't explain it clearly, but just told us that the registration was successful just as inexplicably as in "Snow Eagle" last time.

After hearing this, I felt bad, and immediately checked my bill, and sure enough, there was a loss of 200 yuan a week ago, because I didn't notice it at all in the advance payment...

That is, Feifei used my name and my money to register herself as a virtual idol. Why does this guy always pick on my loopholes and spend my money?

"what is that?"

Yugiri pointed to a fancy machine and asked me.

I turned my gaze and saw the words on the machine, 'Come and pick your favorite idol~'.

Xiwu seldom stays focused on something for a long time, once she does, it can only show one thing, she is interested in it.

"Oh? It's for money..."

"I know this!" Lin Feifei interrupted Shen Qing's introduction, excitedly rushed to the machine and shouted.

"It's full of idol dolls! You put money in and it will give you a doll."

Xiwu was still trying to understand, Shen Qing sighed——

"It is to draw custom-made dolls of idols with a popularity value greater than 100,000 in the form of gashapons or blind boxes. The higher the popularity, the lower the probability of being drawn."

"Understood."

Yugi nodded.

The higher the popularity, the lower the probability, which is true enough.

"Then Feifei, are you in there?"

"of course!"

Startfei proudly puffed up her chest, and she almost said, "Hurry up and smoke one".

"Since the probability is determined based on popularity... With your popularity, you must be able to draw right away, right?"

"That's right!...No, no, what are you talking about? How could it be...!"

"See you admit it."

"How do you know if you haven't smoked!"

"Okay, if you don't draw you 10 times, then I'll treat you to milk tea."

We looked at Yugiri, she didn't object.

Feifei stared anxiously at Xi Wu and walked to the machine, paid with virtual currency, the machine vibrated with a 'boom',

There was a sound like a blender starting, and a box was spit out from the exit below.

Xiwu opened the box, and took out another cloth bag with a tied mouth, and Feifei breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the cloth bag.

Opening the cloth bag, it was an unknown character...

"Do you know it's not you just by looking at the bag? How many times have you played?"

"I haven't played it before."

Started turning her face away, not looking at me at all. This guy had better not play. Since she probably has no money, it is self-evident whose money is used to draw the doll.

Then the second box came out. When she pulled out the cloth bag, Feifei's face became pale.

The girl with white ponytails and a childish smile that appeared in the cloth bag is obviously her...

"Wow, I didn't expect to get this for the second time. You must be silently blessing us, right? Want to see your doll so much?"

"snort!"

She ignored my taunt.

Afterwards, except for one of the idols whose popularity is around 1 million, all the 8 dolls are unknown little characters like Feifei...

"What are these dolls for?"

"Well……"

Feifei was at a loss for words for a moment.

However, what hit her even more was that soon a well-dressed girl rushed up and wanted to exchange her "unwanted doll" for the one million popularity doll that Xiwu had drawn.

She put out all the dolls in her warehouse and asked how we could exchange them with her. I can clearly see that there are thousands of dolls in her warehouse, arranged in descending order of value, among which Feifei's dolls are ranked quite behind, there are about twenty...

"How should we deal with this situation, Master?"

Sure enough, Yugiri came to seek my opinion again, but——

"Don't ask me, it's all drawn by you, just follow the value you agree with to decide."

So she nodded and said to the girl:

"You can use those instead."

"Eh? These?"

The girl took out all the white ponytail idol dolls from the warehouse, and Yugiri handed over the one million popular dolls to her.

"Thank you so much! Well, my formation can finally..."

She happily tucks into the bag, and even though there are already 17 of the same dolls in there, it looks like she has true love for the icon.

On the contrary, we have 23 more Lin Feifei's dolls here.

"Actually, if you calculate it based on the sum of your popularity points, you're not at a loss."

"Companions are valued above others, that's what you teach."

Twilight said to me.

"Woooo..."

Started was moved and cried, and the two ponytails trembled.

"I will try my best to perform, and I will never be at the bottom... woo woo woo..."

"170,000 people is very popular, don't cry."

"Woo woo woo..."

After all, it is an underground neighborhood for novices. Because of the free support, it has attracted many viewers. It is still very popular here. Besides the machines for drawing dolls, there are also many interesting shops, and the most popular ones should be the snack bars.

"Mala Tang?"

Xiwu suddenly looked at a shop and stopped still. The signboard of the shop said "Gold Medal Mala Tang" and there were two pictures——

Although the grade is not high, it is indeed a snack that is hard to give up.

"Are you interested in this? This is similar to spicy soup hot pot."

"Um."

"Do you want to eat Malatang?"

"Um."

I really didn't expect Xiwu to be a guy who loves spicy food...

I watched her go to the store, and told her quickly that she could choose some cooked food by herself at this time, and then Xiwu got a bucket of Malatang filled with gluten, hot pot dumplings, kelp and other ingredients.

Shen Qing and Feifei didn't urge them, it's okay to relax a little bit.

Xiwu picked up a bamboo skewer and lightly took a bite of the hot pot dumpling.

"How is it, is it delicious?"

I ask her.

After swallowing that mouthful, she answered me:

“It tastes like hot pot.”

"Well... so there is no difference?"

"The hot pot is more spicy."

Yugiri commented without emotion.

"It's scary how you like something so spicy. If cake is an angel, it's a devil."

Feifei looked at the barrel of Mala Tang with a complicated expression.

"The feeling of this game is weakened, you won't find it very spicy. But I still recommend you to try drinking a cold soda, it is very exciting."

I opened a can of orange soda and handed it to Yugiri. She took it and downed the orange soda in one go.

"This...you don't need to drink it in one gulp, it will hiccup...forget it, it won't happen in the game, but you must be careful outside..."

Imagining how a beautiful iceberg girl like Xiwu hiccups because she drank too much sparkling drink, she couldn't help shivering.

"Don't follow him! Since you are a good person, I decided to treat you as a friend. If there is a chance, we will go to the garden area together. I will take you to taste the best cake here..."

beep

The group chime sounded, and the programmer told us that Monica Inoue was not in the area. There is no reason to continue shopping, let's move on to the next stop.

Harbor area.

Gray and white seagulls hovered in mid-air, and not far away, a cruise ship painted pink was quietly parked on the shore, and the deep blue sea reflected the gentle afternoon sun.

On the giant red wine billboard standing by the coast, there is a woman with long blond curly hair and blue eyes.

She is noble but playful, with a beautiful face like an illusory fairy. She is the most popular top virtual actor at the moment, named Maria.

The earliest appearance of virtual actors was in 2033, but there was no big hit in the next 10 years. This is because Amicus, the first-generation artificial intelligence partner in that era, was still a semi-finished product in Albert's laboratory, and the virtual actors were just a bunch of delicate dolls, which required humans to edit movements and expressions step by step, except for the face and body. Out-of-key is not as good as a human actor.

In 2035, the first generation of Amicus was officially launched. This epoch-making product made the research and application of strong artificial intelligence begin to affect the scientific and technological tree of human development, and it has affected for 30 years at once.

With the development of strong artificial intelligence, virtual actors are no longer puppets. They can spontaneously make more vivid expressions, interact and chat with fans, and will not leave their control and make random comments to recruit themselves and the company.

But although virtual actors are beautiful, people will eventually get tired of them one day. In 2048, Martha Entertainment proposed a "retirement" system, that is, to let past stars step off the stage and no longer operate. Martha Entertainment claims that the system "is designed to deepen the sense of substitution of human fans, make room for new virtual actors, and make their existence more real."

Although it caused a bloody controversy that lasted for a year, Martha Entertainment defied the crowd and implemented this system, and other entertainment companies followed suit.

From then on, the rivers and rivers flowed, the sun and the moon alternated, and there were always newcomers on the stage, and the old ones retreated.

In recent years, the rise of the virtual idol economy and the impact on virtual actors have occurred, but after all, virtual actors are still a big business of Martha Entertainment, and they have not collapsed.

Maria is a virtual actor whom Martha Entertainment began to support three years ago. Before she was born, everything from appearance to character was carefully designed. In addition, Martha Entertainment’s large capital investment and her appearance The character design is lovable, within 3 years, she has tens of millions of fans all over the world, and she is the biggest cash cow of Martha Entertainment today.

Besides that, there are some other ads. For example, I saw an advertisement for a mobile phone on the wall of a certain storefront.

"Except for the game, the mobile phone has been eliminated long ago, right?"

"You found the problem. In this game, idols will also receive advertisements for items that 'only exist in the game', such as mobile phone advertisements and stationery advertisements."

Shen Qing answered my question.

"There will be no money for receiving this kind of advertisement-of course, the idols themselves will not know that they do receive salary, but it is just the currency in this game. For players, this is just cultivating idol experience activity."

That is to say, is the advertisement that only circulates in the game used as a training program? It is true that virtual idols cannot directly benefit from any programs they shoot, only their owners or companies can benefit.

They're just AI after all...