Chapter 12: The Game Officially Begins
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While riding the subway, Lu Xing took out his phone and realized that the Life Swap mini-program had changed. The loading bar marked “In Experience” finally finished, transforming into a button that said “Click to Enter Game.” Without hesitation, Lu Xing reached out and tapped it, eager to see what new tricks this game could offer.
In the next moment, the mini-program interface vanished, replaced by a luminous screen that appeared before his eyes.
“...” Lu Xing was stunned for a moment before he understood—the game had evolved into a kind of system, effectively binding itself to him. Examining the game interface carefully, he saw the usual features: a character panel, a store, a recharge portal, tasks, and other common game elements.
Curious, Lu Xing clicked on the character panel.
“Player: Lu Xing
Age: 20
Level: 1
Skill: Soul Exchange (Passive; currently exchangeable characters: Jiang Xuannu, Annie Witz Swinton, ???, Xiao Yu).
Experience: 0”
It was the simplest character interface Lu Xing had ever seen—no attributes, no equipment slots, no talents. The only skill was passive. What puzzled him most was that the Ice Fairy’s name appeared as question marks—was it because he didn’t know it, so the system couldn’t reveal it?
Next, he opened the store, which immediately flooded with an array of items: tissues, computers, bear-shaped biscuits, the Universe Mirror, fairy path fragments, Farmer’s Spring Water, dragon demon cores, small spaceships, and even a solar system space station...
The chaotic assortment was priced from one yuan to a billion. After a long look, Lu Xing realized that the store contained items that had existed or appeared across four different worlds.
He tried searching and found that even “Maria” could be purchased for one hundred million—a super artificial intelligence that controlled all humanity in the future world.
In other words, if Lu Xing had the money, he could buy Maria now, implant it into the future world, and have it compete against his own system in cyberspace to see which was stronger.
“How do I recharge?” Lu Xing excitedly clicked the recharge portal—this was the first time in his life he wanted to spend money on a game!
But the game wouldn’t let him.
For now, currency could only be exchanged for experience points; no other payment methods were accepted.
It made sense—if one hundred million could buy a super AI capable of controlling all humanity, that would be far too cheap.
He then clicked on tasks and saw that the game had already refreshed four missions for him.
“New Player Experience Task 1: Play the role of Miss Annie and fully experience a day in the life of a noblewoman, achieving a rating of 60 points. Reward: 1000 experience points.”
Lu Xing gasped inwardly—what a challenge right from the start! As a modern Earth college student, to play a noblewoman in a magical world and earn a sixty-point rating was like asking Annie to solve advanced calculus problems.
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After pondering, Lu Xing couldn’t think of any good solution, so he moved on to the next task.
“New Player Experience Task 2: As Jiang Xuannu, spend three days in the virtual world without being penalized by the AI to level two. Reward: 700 experience points.”
Lu Xing frowned. This seemed simple—just stay in the virtual world for three days. But judging by the reward, it was clearly not easy. Jiang Xuannu could remain in the virtual world’s first layer for sixteen years, but that didn’t mean he could last three days.
He looked at the next one.
“New Player Experience Task 3: Discover the name of ???. Reward: 500 experience points.”
Lu Xing couldn’t judge this task. It looked simple—he had already left written messages on the ice chamber walls, including questions about the Ice Fairy’s identity. But considering the withdrawn fairy’s personality, he found it difficult to assess.
Finally:
“New Player Experience Task 4: As CEO Xiao Yu, complete a contract signing. Reward: 200 experience points.”
Lu Xing nodded—this one was indeed easy, no arguments. Though it seemed difficult, with the help of a cheat device—that is, his phone—negotiating a contract as Xiao Yu was the simplest task of all.
Back at school, Lu Xing called Xiao Yu.
“I have bad news and good news for you.”
“...” On the other end, Xiao Yu was silent for a while, then said, “I can think of many bad things, but I can’t imagine any good news. What is it?”
Lu Xing smiled. “The good news is, you’ll still have plenty of chances to enjoy huge appetites and eat a lot in one sitting!”
“Do you take me for a pig like you?” Xiao Yu gritted her teeth in irritation—he was teasing her about eating so much when it was his body that had consumed the food!
“Ha ha ha.”
After the joke, Xiao Yu asked seriously, “So, you mean that from now on, you and three other girls from different worlds will swap bodies again?”
“Yes.”
“Alright, come see me tomorrow. I’ll have the driver pick you up. Same place as today—my house.”
Accepting the reality, Xiao Yu was decisive, and Lu Xing quickly agreed. Both needed to understand each other’s social circles and some agreed-upon taboos—like not staring at the oxen, or whatever else.
Soon, the next day arrived.
Waking up in the villa, Xiao Yu opened her eyes, still half in a daze, almost thinking she was dreaming. In that dream, yesterday, she had swapped bodies with a university boy and spent an awkward, uncomfortable day.
“Hope it was just a dream.”
Xiao Yu took out her phone, scanned through it, and soon found the contact labeled “Lu Xing.”
Sigh.
The dream was shattered.
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Before washing up and heading to the dining room for breakfast, Xiao Yu called Lu Xing.
“Are you up?” she spoke bluntly; they weren’t just friends—they were closer than friends.
“Hello,” Lu Xing replied stiffly.
Xiao Yu was taken aback, instinctively sensing this wasn’t Lu Xing’s usual tone. She tried to ask, “Are you...?”
“You can call me B74.”
“Are you... Jiang Xuannu?!”
“Jiang Xuannu is my name; B74 is my assigned code.”
“...”
Xiao Yu struggled to convince herself—Lu Xing wasn’t crazy; he must have been possessed by Jiang Xuannu!
Meanwhile...
“Welcome back to consciousness, comrade.”
Lu Xing woke in a pure white room, a calm young girl’s voice sounding in his ear. He hadn’t yet figured out what was going on when the girl continued, “It is currently 7:00:10 a.m. Please wake up within three minutes, get dressed within five, finish breakfast within ten, and leave home before 7:15 to attend school at virtual zone layer one, building SH-755. Morning classes run from 7:30 a.m. to noon.”
“?”
Lu Xing finally identified the source of the voice—a small hairpin atop his head. It wasn’t emitting sound; rather, it transmitted signals directly into his ear.
If he recalled correctly, the voice matched Jiang Xuannu’s tone.
“Who are you?” Lu Xing asked the device, sensing some intelligence.
“I am an intelligent hairpin created by B74 to remind you, comrade, to follow the virtual world’s rules. If you have any questions, you may ask me at any time.”
“Also,” the hairpin added, “you do not need to use your throat to speak; simply transmit commands to me via signals.”
“Signal transmission? How?”
“There is a chip implanted in your brain that automatically interprets your thoughts and sends signals accordingly.”
“...”
Good heavens! Future human technology had truly advanced to this level?