"We're about to set off to travel the world, so I'm leaving a few of the buildings at home to you!" Zhou Zhengping put the computer for registering tenant info in front of Zhou Bai, speaking with swagger.
"Alright!" Zhou Bai answered, grinning from ear to ear.
She, Zhou Bai, is about to become a landlady who eats, drinks, and sleeps all day! And the kind who only collects money.
Because for all the other tedious stuff, she had already found people to take care of it!
"Look at your silly face." Zhou Zhengping tapped his daughter's forehead and roasted her mercilessly. Whose daughter dreams all her life of having loads of money and just eating and waiting for death?
But since she likes it, let her be. With their family assets, they could support her for generations.
Zhou Bai ignored Zhou Zhengping's words, and said straight up, "Have fun! Remember to take lots of photos for me, so I can pretend I went too."
"Mm, we'll remember to mail you souvenirs wherever we go." Zhou Zhengping said, his gaze at Zhou Bai softening a little.
Just as father and daughter were about to chat more, suddenly, a buzzing sound echoed in their heads.
Before they could react, a virtual screen appeared right in front of them out of nowhere.
[Doomsday Game loading...]
"Dad, do you see this?" Zhou Bai looked at the new screen in front of her and couldn't help speaking.
Zhou Zhengping's eyes grew more serious. "I see it!"
At this moment, Ding Qiurou rushed in from outside, "Husband, Xiao Bai, I suddenly had words appear right in front of me."
"We all do." Zhou Bai answered quickly. "I'll check online."
Then her hand shook a bit as she took out her phone.
Sure enough, the Internet was already flooded with similar topics.
#Doomsday is here#
#What is the Doomsday Game#
#Alien prank?#
Zhou Bai randomly clicked into one and saw tons of people commenting.
"A Doomsday Game loading screen just popped up in front of me, so scary! Is the end actually coming?"
"I asked friends and family, everyone has it. Seems global."
"Finally bought a house, just about to start a new life, and now doomsday comes! God, are you messing with us!"
"So, are aliens invading Blue Star?"
"Will there be zombies like in Resident Evil?"
"No please! If there are zombies, I'd rather kill myself."
"Everyone should hurry and stock up on food! I saw some folks are already hoarding!"
"Yeah, time to stock up!"
"Right, and weapons!"
"Weapons? We live in peaceful times. Where can you even buy weapons? Only kitchen knives."
"Kitchen knives count! Better than nothing."
"Here's a list of doomsday essentials."
"..."
Seeing this, Zhou Bai couldn't wait and blurted out, "Dad, Mom, let's go buy food and drinks right now and stock up at home. And knives, buy a few more."
"Yeah, yeah, with this Doomsday Game, everyone's definitely scrambling for supplies!" Ding Qiurou chimed in.
"I'll go! You two stay home." Zhou Zhengping quickly said. He could imagine, because of this sudden Doomsday Game, things outside wouldn't be calm.
"Dad, I'll go with you, Mom stays home." Zhou Bai instinctively replied. "Someone has to keep an eye on the supplies."
"I want to go too. Family goes together." Ding Qiurou insisted as well; she was worried something would happen, it's better to be together.
Seeing his wife and daughter so determined, Zhou Zhengping nodded helplessly. "Alright, together then! But you two have to stick close to me."
But before going out, Zhou Zhengping grabbed a fruit knife and put it in his pocket.
The Zhou Family lives in a detached villa, so the three easily made their way to the garage on the first floor. Cars in the neighborhood were all heading toward the big supermarket nearby.
Zhou Zhengping was also preparing to go to the biggest supermarket nearby.
But the car had barely driven out when it suddenly stopped on its own. Meanwhile, the screens in front of all three had changed.
[Doomsday Game loaded, matching...]
[Match complete. Blue Star is now fully gamified.]
[Dear Host, do you wish to convert all your assets into universal game coins?]
As these messages appeared, the family found themselves suddenly standing in a desolate wilderness. Everything around was misty; it felt like their family were the only humans left. The three exchanged info and found they'd received the same messages.
Without thinking much, all three chose Yes.
House gone, car gone—if you don't convert, you'll really lose everything.
Zhou Bai focused her attention on the screen in front of her.
She knew clearly—the world had flipped. From now on, what they'd have to rely on was probably just this Doomsday game system that had suddenly popped up.
After she made her choice, the screen changed.
[Converting assets...]
[Detected large amounts of fixed real estate under Host. Hidden reward triggered. Do you wish to exchange all real estate for the reward? If successful, real estate will not be converted into game coins. Exchange? Countdown 5, 4, 3...]
"Yes." Zhou Bai immediately chose Yes, feeling an intuition that this hidden reward would benefit her.
[Exchange complete. Reward will be issued once game officially launches. Please wait...]
After this message, Zhou Bai's screen stopped reacting.
At this point, Zhou Zhengping and Ding Qiurou had finished exchanging their own assets too, both feeling a bit lost inside.
Because of this sudden accident, all the hard-earned business they worked for over years turned into some flimsy universal game coins—and who knew what those could even do!
Then they looked at Zhou Bai, "Xiao Bai, did you finish exchanging?"
"I'm done, but not all of mine got exchanged for game coins..." Zhou Bai explained what had happened, "There were only 5 seconds, so I didn't talk it over with you guys."
"No worries. Anyway, those houses were all already given to you—they're yours now. Even if something happens, you've still got Mom and Dad to support you!" Zhou Zhengping smiled, comforting her. "Honestly, I think it's a good thing. You've always been lucky since you were little."
"I really felt like I'd regret it if I let this pass." Zhou Bai said instinctively.
"Mm." Zhou Zhengping and Ding Qiurou both looked at Zhou Bai gently, with no trace of blame.
Just then, another notification flashed across the screens for all three.
[Global asset transfer complete. Doomsday game is officially running.]
[To help everyone get used to the game environment, Newbie Protection Period: 1 month.]
[Friendly advice: the world has changed, please work hard to survive.]
As the message faded, the thick fog around them slowly dissipated.
And then, a mechanical voice rang in Zhou Bai's mind: "Host, do you wish to bind the Lord Token?"
Zhou Bai jolted awake as she heard that. The reward she got from exchanging her buildings was here!