"That would be ten dollars and thirty cents," spoke the lady standing behind a register."Here," responded Xing Chen giving the lady the exact change for his pack of cigarettes.
"Do you need a receipt?"
"No."
"Have a good night, sir."
"Thanks."
Xing Chen grabbed his pack of cigarettes, opening it outside the convenience store, pulling one out. Using his lips to grip onto the filter, putting away his pack in the right pocket of his black jacket, he grabbed a small, purple lighter from his left pocket of his jeans and lit up the cigarette.
He inhaled the lit cigarette slowly, exhaling a stream of smoke coming out from the small opening of his cracked lips. It was nine in the evening for Xing Chen, barely getting off from work, he started walking back to his apartment in a sullen mood. It was a cold november night, a few hours before his birthday but he had no one to celebrate it with.
Xing Chen was part of a gaming corporation and was sent overseas to discuss business matters to possible clients. Although he was part of upper management, he was newly promoted and had to prove himself by taking such tasks. A few years back, he was a famous gamer for the virtual reality ma.s.sively multiplayer online role-playing game (or VRMMORPG) Heavenly Domain.
After reaching and keeping his number one position for so long, the management of Heavenly Domain contacted him to spread their new game, Celestial Expanse.
Supposedly, Celestial Expanse was to be a true submersion of virtual reality, functioning as a distraction and new hope for people to immerse themselves into. The game"s template was basically like Heavenly Domain but expanded by a hundredfold. Sadly, the production of the game was still in the making and he only got to test the beta version a few times.
By the time Xing Chen finished his cigarette, he reached the crosswalk that led to his apartment a few blocks down. Taking out the cigarette from his lips, he put out the embers using the sole of his left shoe and threw it into a nearby trash can. Because of the strict laws of maintaining the city he currently resided, you could instantly be fined a few thousand dollars for littering.
So everyone, including gang members, always ensured they threw away their trash to avoid the fines. Over the hundred years of pollution caused extreme changes into the environment, so the government issued the "Green Law" to keep their planet clean.
Not even money from underhanded businesses could budge this decision. Since then, the new businesses that followed suit hundreds of years later had to go through a strict and thorough 9 point inspection when operating a new building or business.
Eventually, they"ve grown millions of trees, built great lakes and cleaned up all the pollution by recycling and used other scientific advancements to wipe out trash. This current era they lived in kept a harmony of both science and nature, ensuring that such polluted catastrophe wouldn"t happen again.
Before the crosswalk had changed, a basketball sized blue ball bounced across the street, halting into a roll towards the middle of the street. Not to far, a truck was coming down the same street.
"My ball!" shouted a little girl wearing a pink winter jacket, running across the crosswalk towards the ball. The sounds of a truck"s horn blared, unable to stop, honking multiple times to the little girl in pink. She stood there like a rabbit caught in the headlights.
Even though it was the future, it was still hard for a truck to stop due to its heavy load at a certain speed.
"s.h.i.t!" cursed Xing Chen as he was the closest to the crosswalk.
His body was quite fit, so he instantly charged forward without a single thought and grabbed the little girl, reaching the other side. Right after, the truck continued through the green traffic light, popping the blue ball in the process.
Luckily, he made it.
"Phew, I thought I would be like those MC who met Truck-san and got reincarnated into another world" thought Xing Chen breathing heavily. He then turned to the little girl and said:
"Please be careful when you play nearby the streets, okay?"
"Yes, mister," nodded the little girl in pink.
"Yuyu, you"re alright," shouted a feminine voice behind him.
"Mom!" cried Yuyu the moment she saw her mom. She ran to her mom"s arm, crying with snot running out of her nose.
"Oh, Yuyu, you"re okay. That"s great, thank you sir for saving her," smiled Yuyu"s mom as she looked at Xing Chen with glossy, red eyes.
"No problems. Anybody would of done the same," Xing Chen rea.s.sured as he scratched the side of his head.
"Is there anything I can do for you?"
"No, I still have to head home. Please make sure you keep a better eye on your daughter."
"Yes, I will. Thank you."
"En. Have a goodnight."
"You too."
After making sure the little girl was alright, Xing Chen continued on his way to his apartment. There was one more block left until he reached his apartment. Checking his right pocket, grabbing another cigarette, he brought out his lighter and proceed to light up the cigarette. In the exact moment the tips of the orange flames touched the ends of loose tobacco, the screechings of car tires could be heard a few feet away from him.
***Skrrrrttttt
Turning his head, a bright light illuminated his vision, blinding him temporarily. Before he could get a hold of himself and dodge, the car"s hood smashed against his lower stomach, crashing into the brick building behind him.
"I spoke to soon…" thought Xing Chen as his conscious faded into the abyss.
Half an hour later, sounds of sirens filled the air stopping at where Xing Chen had lived his final moments.
On a certain news channel.
"This evening at approximately 9:32 PM, a man was killed by a drunk male driver nearby Mushu Street. The drunk driver, who was deemed incoherent, was brought to the hospital with minor injuries. After he awakens, he would put on to trial for vehicular manslaughter while under the influence..."
"No way…" Yuyu mom"s gasped as she watched the news channel and saw the picture of the man who was killed. On the news, a picture of Xing Chen appeared, the exact same person she had spoken to not long ago.
***
Initializing...
**Ding
[Randomly Choosing Leveling Skills] [Max Skills Allowed: 3]
[Agree] [Decline]
"Is this a dream? Didn"t I die…" thought Xing Chen as a status screen appeared before him.
[Randomly Choosing Leveling Skills] [Max Skills Allowed: 3]
[Agree] [Decline]
"It"s asking me to agree or decline? Am I truly dreaming?"
[Randomly Choosing Leveling Skills] [Max Skills Allowed: 3]
[Agree] [Decline]
"Uhh…. agree," said Xing Chen after the sentence on the status screen repeated for the third time.
[Selecting Random Skills] . . .
[Random Skills Has Been Selected]
: Learn any skills instantaneously by reading, watching or by action. I.e. Blacksmith, Crafting, Alchemy, Manuals . . . : Will become immune to every single type of poison encountered. This includes every form of contact. : Instantaneously refines anything that can be refine i.e. pills, treasures, Qi, yourself . . ."The first two seem useful… I don"t know what it means by refinement," muttered Xing Chen. At this point, he thought he was dreaming so he just decided to go along with it.
[Randomly Maxing 1 Stat Attributes]
[Agree] [Decline]
"Agree."
[Random Attribute Has Been Selected]
[Please Check Your Status]
---
"Open Status."
Name: Xing Chen
Level: 0
Strength*: N/A
Endurance*: N/A
Intelligence*: N/A
Agility*: N/A
Will* : MAXED
Divine Sense*: N/A
Luck : 3
Inherent Skills :
Learned Skills :
(None)
---
"What else can I do?" Xing Chen thought out loud.
**Ding
[Initializing Sleep Mode]
As the noticed appeared, Xing Chen felt his conscious slowly fading out into the deep abyss once more.
-
Strength* - Represents a person"s physical power.
Agility* - Represents a person"s physical nimbleness, motor skills, reaction time, and speed
Endurance* - Represents a character"s physical toughness and vitality, especially their resistance to poisons, illnesses, etc.
Intelligence* - Represents how smart and skilled a person when they learn and comprehend. I.e. Learning and speaking multiple languages.
Will* - Represents a person"s willpower, ability to overcome any obstacles.
-
:: h.e.l.lo~ This is my second novel, but I wanted to put the first chapter out there. At most, I would update once a week or month for this since it is not my main priority. It"s just something fun and out of the blue. I wanted to try my hands on a system based novel… hopefully it goes well and probably have some potential. ::
:: Thank you for reading - LOABA ::