2025, winter, Jiangnan Province, Jinling City.
Thursday.
Winter in Jiangnan is pure magical damage.
Gu Yi shrank into his bed, relying on the meager resistance provided by the electric blanket, quickly reaching out to grab the phone by his pillow into the bed.
So fast, it was almost like a conceptual deity.
As soon as he touched the phone, he immediately buried his head into the covers, eagerly lighting up the screen.
[Long-distance girlfriend of five years cheated, I'm just fifty bucks short of buying a plane ticket, V fifty and I'll film a revenge video for you.]
[One move to sweep your social circle, submit for great prizes...]
[How easy is it for men to boost blood and qi...]
[...]
After swiping through over a dozen app pop-ups, confirming there was no awaited message, Gu Yi let out a deep sigh:
"Finding a job is really tough."
He had been graduated for nearly three months now.
If pre-graduation Gu Yi was "I control my own fate," then the current Gu Yi was "If you say three thousand, then it's three thousand."
Recent graduates required to have work experience.
Is that even a reasonable thing to say?
Thinking about it, Gu Yi couldn't help but sigh lightly.
Casually tossing the phone aside and turning on the air conditioner, he stared blankly at the ceiling, feeling a sense of uncertainty about the future.
He remained dazed like this for a long time.
Until the warm air from the air conditioner filled the entire room, he then prepared to get up.
Gu Yi's parents were both educators, and their daily routine was very regular.
Living in such a family,
Gu Yi naturally was influenced, rarely sleeping in.
Entering the living room, compared to the limited space of the bedroom, the living room felt much chillier.
The two old folks were out for their morning run and were not home.
Nowadays, middle-aged and elderly people are healthier than ever, while young people are like seaweed, crumbling at a touch.
Gu Yi had long been used to this, shivering as he went to wash up.
But at that moment, he suddenly noticed a conspicuous package on the dining table in the living room.
Hmm?
Gu Yi was momentarily taken aback.
His parents were typical intellectuals who preferred shopping in person over online shopping.
They rarely bought things online.
What did they buy this time?
Gu Yi, puzzled, walked over to check the label on the box, only to find out it was actually his package!
"Huh?"
"I haven't bought anything recently, who sent it?"
Gu Yi was a bit confused; the delivery label only had his name on it, without indicating what was inside.
He picked up the package and shook it.
It was unexpectedly heavy.
With full curiosity, he didn't bother finding a box cutter, instead, he just grabbed a key from his room and cut open the package along the transparent tape.
Inside the exquisite packaging was a strange game console.
It looked a lot like a Switch.
But unlike a Switch, this console only had a power button, no cartridge slot, and none of the usual control buttons of other consoles.
"A model?"
Gu Yi frowned, tentatively pressing the power button on the console.
The pitch-black screen instantly lit up.
A particularly desolate background image appeared instantly, accompanied by two large, vigorous characters.
[Family]
Below it were several options.
[Start Game], [Game Achievements], [Family Information], [Precautions], [End Game],
It's not a model after all!
Gu Yi was somewhat surprised.
Who sent this?
Could it be the old folks changed their ways and sent this as a graduation gift?
But why a game console...
According to the online persona, shouldn't it be a luxury car key?
Gu Yi didn't get tangled up in that; looking at the screen, what he was truly curious about was what kind of game this was.
Although he never got addicted to games.
As a young person living in this information age, he still knew whether any blockbuster games were released recently.
And he hadn't heard of this game.
Could it be a still unreleased game from some company?
Gu Yi hesitantly tapped the "Start Game" on the screen.
A "bang" sounded.
The desolate background image instantly shattered, the screen went black again, and lines of prompts flashed.
[Retrieving player ancestor information....]
[Player information successfully retrieved....]
[Time: The fourth year of Emperor Di Huang, beginning year of Gengshi]
[Location: Kunyang]
"Extracting ancestor information?"
Gu Yi curiously watched the screen, with the hints given, he could basically guess what type of game this was.
Similar to survival simulation games like "Don't Starve" or "Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey."
These kinds of games always had similar prompts when loading.
"Gengshi year?"
"Is it actually set in ancient history?"
"A grand production indeed!"
Gu Yi waited for a few seconds.
Sure enough, as he expected, the prompts automatically disappeared.
The speakers on the console suddenly sounded.
The sound of a fierce wind roared out, and the sound effects were much better than imagined, almost as if it was actually happening.
Along with the gusts of wind, images gradually appeared on the middle of the screen.
A tall, handsome man was staring intently at him.
And behind him was an endless army, with flags billowing in the wind.
Each flag had different large characters on it.
Gu Yi could roughly make out two.
One was "Han";
The other was "Liu."
The image was so realistic that even through the screen, Gu Yi felt an inexplicable aura of sternness and killing intent.