I Have a Mansion in the Post-apocalyptic World

After a while, Xia Shiyu took off her helmet and stood up from the chair.

She reflected on the feeling of being in virtual reality before she let out a sigh, still immersed in that world.

“If it wasn’t for the game menu that could pop up at any time, I would’ve thought I traveled to another dimension.”

“It’s normal to experience this feeling the first time you play with virtual reality – it won’t happen after you get used to it.” Jiang Chen smiled.

There was a process to get accustomed to new things. Jiang Chen remembered that the first time he laid in the virtual reality training chamber, he felt anxious too. But since he used it so many times since then, it didn’t feel special anymore.

With the helmet in her lap, Xia Shiyu gently stroked the fluid surface of the helmet and murmured:

“Although traditional VR equipment can achieve immersive virtual reality, it’s physically limited. For example, the helmet can mimic visuals and audio with a sensory device attached to the hands… But it’s the first time I’ve seen your type that allows the body to enter deep REM sleep and allows the consciousness to completely integrate with the virtual world. The visuals and audio no longer need to pass through the eyes and ears – all senses are transmitted through the brain, thus people are, in effect, playing the game while sleeping… This is too magical.”

“Is that so? Then guess how many players this <Godly Land> would have?” Jiang Chen said proudly.

Xia Shiyu shook her head. “I can’t estimate how many, but I know one thing for certain. As long as this helmet isn’t too expensive, the number of registered users and concurrent users would have no problem breaking the Genesis World Record.”

“That’s what I think too.”

Xia Shiyu then looked at Jiang Chen.

“Do you think virtual reality could only be applied to games?”

When he heard Xia Shiyu’s words, Jiang Chen asked with curiosity.

“What do you mean?”

“PCs, smartphones, and tablets – these electronic devices ease social interaction between people. With just a messaging app, two people thousands of miles away can feel like they’re standing side by side.” Xia Shiyu put the helmet aside and looked at Jiang Chen. She said with seriousness, “But with this virtual helmet, it can allow two people thousands of miles away to forget the distance and “truly” stand side by side. Ignoring the game itself, the helmet alone is an era-defining product.”

Jiang Chen took a moment to think it over as no one had mentioned this to him before since in terms of virtual reality technology, people in the apocalypse were much more indifferent.

“So you’re saying this could replace smartphones?” Jiang Chen laughed. “I don’t think that’s possible since phones can easily be used anywhere, but this can only be used at home. Also, if I remember correctly, VR equipment already existed two years ago.”

Virtual reality wasn’t something new to the modern world. It had a relatively low usage rate domestically, but outside the wall, this thing wasn’t as high-tech as people imagined it to be.

A simple example: the virtual reality game <EVA: Valkyrie> under the CCP banner had a selling point known as “Space VR,” but this game started its internal test on January 18th, 2016. Any players who purchased the Oculus Rift DK2 would be able to participate just by registering.

Virtual reality games weren’t as complex as imagined ten years ago. A lot of PC and console games were all attempting to integrate with VR.

And the news “2016 will be the landmark year for virtual reality” wasn’t wrong at all.

“It’s different.” Xia Shiyu shook her head. “The difference is analogous to how flip phones didn’t change the landscape of PC, but smartphones did.”

She paused, looked into Jiang Chen’s eyes, and said with seriousness:

“And the virtual reality helmet you introduced is like the “smartphone” of VR. It’s impractical as a replacement for smartphones, but it could certainly pose a significant threat to the virtual reality market.”

While he was mentally prepared to be the person who wrote the next chapter in history, when Xia Shiyu spoke those words herself, Jiang Chen couldn’t contain his excitement.

“This virtual reality helmet is just like a key that takes the sleep time of humans to another dimension. Keeping lifespans constant, people will ‘live’ for eight hours longer each day. Aside from games, we can also use virtual reality equipment to create communities, e-commerce platforms, virtual real estate, and even things we never imagined before…”

Xia Shiyu took a deep breath as her eyes flickered with excitement.

“Now do you know why I’m this excited?”

When he heard Xia Shiyu’s description, Jiang Chen was shocked himself. When he was first introduced to the helmet, he only thought of playing games and didn’t think that far ahead at all. But now that Xia Shiyu mentioned its potential other uses, he suddenly felt enlightened.

Yes, it had other uses aside from gaming. Social interaction and even other necessities could be based on the virtual reality helmet platform – anything was possible! Virtual reality was just like an undeveloped goldmine that only Future Technology could reach.

“We’ll create history,” Jiang Chen said.

“That’s right!” Xia Shiyu held Jiang Chen’s hands in excitement.

“…”

Time paused for five seconds.

She slowly let go of his hands, put her hand to her mouth and coughed while she averted her gaze.

“Sorry, I got too excited…”

She pretended to be calm, but the blush on her face clearly showed the anxiety she was feeling.

Jiang Chen was completely shocked as he stared at her blankly.

[Is this really Xia Shiyu?]

[How should I react?]

Just as they stood in awkward silence, a gentle knock came from the door.

“You have a visitor.” Ayesha looked at the two of them with a smile as she leaned on the door frame.

[Perfect save!] Jiang Chen thanked Ayesha in his mind.

“Let me see who’s at the door. You can play with the helmet for a bit.” Jiang Chen smiled at Xia Shiyu before he slipped out of the gym.

Xia Shiyu watched Jiang Chen leave before her eyes stopped at Ayesha at the door.

She hadn’t spoken to her since she came in.

Xia Shiyu squeezed out a forced smile as she said, “Hi…”

She didn’t want her expression to reveal her true feelings to this girl.

Or her sense of competition.

Ayesha responded with a friendly smile as she said gently, “I organized your room for you. If you need anything, just let me know.”

Looking at Ayesha’s smile free of any hostility, Xia Shiyu felt a hint of embarrassment at her own hostility.

“You… you don’t dislike me?”

When she heard Xia Shiyu’s words, Ayesha tilted her head. “Why would I dislike you?”

“Because… Because of jealousy.” Xia Shiyu looked away.

She couldn’t look straight into Ayesha’s sapphire pupils.

But Ayesha only shook her head.

“You’re not afraid I’ll take him away from you?” Xia Shiyu finally couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“You finally admitted to your own emotions?” Ayesha asked back.

Xia Shiyu stopped. A red hue climbed from her neck to her ears.

But this time, she didn’t back down; she didn’t want to demonstrate her softness in the relationship in front of her “competition.”

Seeing she didn’t disagree, a smile appeared on Aysha’s face.

She walked beside her, tiptoed and whispered into her ear.

“Tonight, I’ll let you have him.”

Xia Shiyu took a moment to process this.

When she realized what Ayesha meant, her brain completely shut down…