War Paradise

The strong wind blowing from the east temporarily dissipated the smog covering the city. Judging from the blue hues of the sky, today is a rare good weather.

After returning to reality from Realm, Lin Chi put on his own exoskeleton, added another set of clothes outside, put the drone in his backpack, and took the elevator downstairs.

In recent days, he basically spent his time at home with very few activities, and he felt that his own muscles seemed to show signs of atrophy. But even after going out, the exoskeleton can't make his body exercise.

The exoskeleton was fairly quiet when it moved, and was not noticed by others nearby. As long as this equipment is not turned on to the maximum power, it is just an ordinary exercise assisting device, and it is not very conspicuous.

"Where are you going." The electronic sound of Frankenstein sounded in Lin Chi's headphones.

"I don't know, why don't you just take a stroll on the street for a while?" Lin Chi took the phone and used the phone's camera to act as Frankenstein's eyes, giving the AI ​​hidden in the digital world the opportunity to "see with his own eyes" the world .

"The weather is good, you should walk." Frankenstein looked at the street under the sun with his camera.

"You speak like a nagging middle-aged woman." Lin Chi spit out casually and walked quickly across the sidewalk. The vehicles on the street turned into blurred afterimages, bringing out the sound of howling wind.

With the widespread application of autonomous driving technology, few people are still driving except for the professional drivers participating in the race. At this speed, only the automatic driving system can guarantee the stable operation of the vehicle.

The vehicles that shuttle back and forth on the street are not controlled by the driver, but are operated by the automatic driving system. The owner only needs to set the destination, and then sit in the seat and spend a leisurely time.

Today, people have long been accustomed to autonomous driving systems, and the criticisms when this feature first appeared have long since disappeared. But even so, there are still people who are not at ease about autonomous driving, for example...

"Have you ever been on the map of New York in the paradise of war?" Lin Chi asked Frankenstein.

"Entered twice." Frankenstein immediately replied: "What's wrong."

"If the kind of super hackers in'New York' really exist, as long as they modify the autopilot system, the city might be destroyed immediately." Lin Chi looked at the afterimages of the cars on the street.

Frankenstein’s tone remained cold: "Human electronic systems are not that fragile."

"Is this your personal experience?" Lin Chi asked.

"Humans respond very quickly." Frankenstein used his mobile phone to communicate with his "master": "Their killing program is so powerful that I can't deal with it at all."

"It's okay, it's all removed now." Lin Chi smiled, stood at the taxi stop on the side of the road, and pressed the red button next to it.

Five seconds later, a green taxi equipped with the "old driver" driving system stopped in front of him, the razor-style door slid upward, and Lin Chi sat in the back seat and reported the destination to the driving AI:

"City center, Emperor Shopping Plaza."

"The coordinates have been confirmed, Emperor Shopping Plaza. According to the current road conditions and traffic light conditions, you will arrive at your destination in five minutes. Please fasten your seat belt after payment and we are about to leave.""Aren't you worried about being hacked?" Frankenstein said coldly.

"I'm just talking casually." Lin Chi said, swiping the back seat with his mobile phone, and automatically paid the fare this time.

Today’s weather is good. It’s okay to go to the largest shopping mall in the city. There may be the latest game warehouses on the shelves. Even if you don’t need to buy them temporarily, it’s good to feast your eyes on it in advance.

As soon as the seat belt was fastened, the scenery outside the car window was blurred. The taxi was racing forward at a speed of 300 kilometers per hour, but the car body was abnormally stable. It was not as "thrilling and exciting" as a racing car in a game.

The old driver's prediction was extremely accurate. The taxi arrived in front of the Emperor Shopping Center in five minutes and twenty seconds. Lin Chi with the drone got out of the car and stood in front of the crowded square.

In the center of the circular square, stands a statue of a man running with a fist. Several tall shopping malls surround the square, revealing an inexplicable sense of oppression.

Postbox-shaped robots shuttled back and forth in the square, busy transporting heavy goods. The propeller of the cargo drone rotates at high speed, but there is no sound. Although there are a lot of people in the square, the number of robots is more.

In this era of extremely convenient and fast logistics, more and more people are accustomed to staying at home, and the number of people going out shopping has become a minority. The Emperor Shopping Plaza is fairly good, and many of the formerly prosperous commercial streets are already a miserable sight.

"Where are you going." Frankenstein asked.

"Wait a moment……"

Lin Chi said that he picked up his phone and searched it, and found that no store at the Emperor Shopping Plaza had introduced a new version of the game warehouse. He couldn't help but sighed: "Okay, nothing new, I changed my mind... you go Have you ever been to the game hall?"

"Game halls were popular in the country in the 1980s and 1990s, and then gradually declined. After the emergence of brain imaging games, they basically completely withdrew from the stage of history." Frankenstein described the information he found on the Internet.

"No, I haven't completely retired from the stage of history. There is one here in the Emperor Shopping Plaza, but I haven't been to it in a long time." Lin Chi said, turning and walking towards the large castle-shaped building on the east side of the square.

As one of the three shopping malls with the least traffic, Golden Dragon Shopping Center is still a complete failure today. However, the service robots behind the booths are still very dedicated. When Lin Chi walked in, he began to wave himself. The slender arm shouted in an unusually enthusiastic male voice:

"Welcome, please come here and have a look!"

"No matter how advanced technology is, these soliciting methods still remain the same." Lin Chi vomited.

He ignored the terribly enthusiastic robots, but strode into the shopping center, took the elevator to the fifth floor, and walked along the narrow passage to the west side of the shopping center.

Before arriving at the game hall, the deafening music has been heard. The colorful lights are flickering, making one can't help but dazzle.

"Found the game hall." Frankenstein's voice seemed a little surprised.

"A game hall in 2035 is hard to find. Those who are still opening stores are True Love." Lin Chi said as he opened the glass door and entered the chaotic area.

Then, the sights of Lin Chi and Frankenstein suddenly became clear:

Dozens of large game consoles appeared on the left and right sides of Lin Chi's body. In the middle was a wide channel covered with game stickers, which was constantly changing color by the light of the game console's screen. Although there are many machines here, the inside There are not many players-to be precise, only one person is playing the game.

Seeing a man in black standing in front of a light gun game machine, raising a gun to shoot a zombie in the form of a holographic projection, Lin Chi laughed, ignoring the robot standing behind the entrance counter, and walked straight to the player.

"Game currency should be purchased." Frankenstein reminded.

"I know." When Lin Chi was speaking, he had already come behind the player and stood beside him with great interest, watching the other party concentrate on playing the game.

The player who was shooting with a gun was slim, wearing a black sweater with a hood, two staggered blades and a decaying skeleton painted on the back.

This person is a little shorter than Lin Chi. Although he looks thin and weak, he is very proficient in the use of light guns. With the exaggerated gunshots in the game, the projected zombies that are coming are smashed one by one, and the mutilated corpses are sprayed. Green blood fell down.

The player's marksmanship is extremely accurate, and even achieved the "backboard". Before the zombie appeared, he had aimed at the location where the monster was about to be spawned, and it seemed that he had cleared the level more than once.

The Frankenstein watching the surroundings with the phone camera commented: "He is great."

"It's almost like me." The corner of Lin Chi's mouth raised slightly.

"Stronger than you." Frankenstein's voice trembled.

"Maybe." Lin Chi was too lazy to continue this topic, but stood beside the opponent with his arms folded and continued to "watch" the battle.

As a giant zombie with a brown skin crashed to the ground, the words "level complete" appeared in the air. The player put down the light gun in his hand and was about to turn around and leave, but it happened to be in line with Lin Chi.

"Well……"

Seeing an "old salted fish" dressed in a casual dress, the player took off his hood, revealing a small face with red stickers and short hair with ears.

Then, the girl seemed to disbelieve her own eyes, and blinked vigorously:

"Am I hallucinating..."

"No." Lin Chi smiled.

"You...I thought you were dead." The girl stretched out her hand and rubbed her eyes, then walked over and twisted Lin Chi's arm, as if confirming the authenticity of the man in front of him, but she touched the cold exoskeleton. .

"Could it be that you...that's why you didn't come here." She whispered, "I'm sorry too..."

"I'm not disabled yet, it's just an exoskeleton for transportation." Lin Chi said angrily.

"Who is this?" Frankenstein asked in the headset.

"Game hall owner." Lin Chi gave the answer.

"I'm not the boss, I just came to help Uncle look at the store..." The girl shook her head vigorously: "You can play games here for free, and there are drinks for no cost. Anyway, no one comes here. You can play whatever you want. ."

"Ha, I also hope to have such an uncle." Lin Chi smiled and looked at the girl in front of him.

When he came here a year ago to buy accessories for the game warehouse, he discovered this game hall hidden deep in the shopping center. At that time, this game hall was completely unattended as it is now, except for the robot, only this girl was playing games alone.At that time, Lin Chi, who just started to get tired of the same brain imaging RPG, saw all kinds of holographic projection game equipment here, and some other "old antiques", it felt as if the door to a new world was opened, and he immediately started a new year package. Membership card, tried all the machines here.

Since he was the only customer in this game hall, Lin Chi also made friends with the girl who was watching the store. However, these two game players follow the habits of the game, instead of reporting their real name, they replaced it with "ID":

"K23, what are you going to play today?" The girl called out the nickname Lin Chi used in "Blade".

"I just brought my friend over to take a look." Lin Chi said as he took out the drone from his backpack: "My friend is paralyzed. I can only use the drone to observe the surroundings. Can he fly a few times here?"

"Yeah, of course it's okay." The girl looked very happy, with her eyebrows bent into crescent shapes, and her mouth also hummed a little tune that was not in the tune.

With the permission of the other party, Lin Chi turned on the switch of the drone. Under the control of Frankenstein, the drone began to shuttle in the game hall, as if he had discovered a new world, and began to check the various equipment here.

"..."

Looking at the drone hovering in front of the game console, Lin Chi also showed a smile on his face. He was about to go to the door to buy a bottle of drink, but was grabbed by the girl next to him by the sleeve:

"Looking at you smiling so happily, is it your girlfriend?" The girl squinted her eyes, with a confident look: "I really envy you as an adult..."

"Come on, have you ever seen a man who is still smiling when his girlfriend is paralyzed?" Lin Chi corrected the other's common sense error, then cast his gaze on a black curtain inside the game hall and asked, "What is that?"

Behind the black curtain, there were dull rumblings from time to time. On the metal shell beside it were painted several pirate ships sailing on the sea, and the broken skull flag was particularly eye-catching.

Lin Chi remembered clearly that when he came to the game hall a year ago, there shouldn't be this game console in the store.

In other words, new equipment has been purchased in this store?

"Oh, ah, that's an out-of-print product from Australia." The girl pretended to be mysterious and smiled: "Stormy Seas: Pirate Adventure, how about it, do you want to cooperate with me?"

"Yes." Lin Chi nodded.

Although I have played pirate-themed games in brain imaging games, the experience of this old game console is not the same as brain imaging games.

Today, many players with brain imaging games have begun to dismiss other games after experiencing immersive "real games". But for Lin Chi, these old machines in the game hall have a strange charm. It's like exploring in an ancient castle, and occasionally you will get some surprises.

"How much?" he asked.

"Ten yuan a time." The girl replied immediately.

"A bit expensive?" Lin Chi frowned slightly.

"Are you playing or not?"

"let's go."

After paying the money, Lin Chi put on the VR helmet he got from the front desk, and together with the girl who also wore the helmet next to him, opened the black curtain and entered the "stormy sea" hidden behind.

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