Chapter 4: A Resonant Voice!

Night.

It was deep and profound.

Zhong Chongwen stared blankly at the night sky.

Beneath the heavens, stars twinkled like scattered jewels, and the moon played hide-and-seek behind a veil of thin clouds.

He lowered his head slightly, looking at the street alley not far away.

The scent of charred meat wafted from the roadside barbecue stalls. Many middle-aged men sat shirtless, gulping down beer and devouring meat. Amidst the cacophony of honking horns and city noise, they chatted about everything under the sun.

He looked ahead.

Ahead.

The air was thick with the smell of mold. A low, cramped shack’s door was pushed open, letting out a series of sharp creaks.

The door looked ancient and rotting, as if a single forceful push would send it crashing down.

He was stunned.

He never would have dreamed that someone actually lived here.

This was even worse than his old family home back in the countryside.

He instinctively turned to look at the person beside him. Zhao Hang, who had followed him here with a limp, also had his eyes wide in disbelief.

Under the cover of night.

He felt a crushing sense of disappointment.

He wanted to say something, but in the end, no words came out.

“What are you just standing there for? Come on in!”

“B-B-Brother Zhang¹… we… we’re… staying… here?”

“…”

Zhong Chongwen usually had a bit of a stutter, but now, because the shock was so great, it had become far worse.

“Universe Technology”!

It sounded so impressive. It sounded even more impressive when Zhang Yang spoke of it, making it seem like a world-class corporation.

But!

At this moment…

Zhong Chongwen felt like he was seeing a ghost.

He watched as Zhang Yang warmly picked up his luggage and carried it into the dim room.

He stared blankly at the incandescent bulb on the ceiling. It was filthy, and were those… cobwebs?

He didn’t know if he should go in. His mind was already racing, trying to find an excuse to leave.

The nearby Zhao Hang felt the same.

He felt they had been scammed.

He gripped his suitcase tight.

Looking around, Zhao Hang felt a surge of fear. This place looked like a hideout for some cult² or a pyramid scheme³.

He wanted to run…

But!

“Oh, why are you still standing out there? Don’t be shy, come in…”

“It wasn’t easy for you two to come all this way. Come, have a cup of tea first, and then we’ll talk about the future!”

“…”

Zhang Yang stepped back out of the house. When he saw their dazed expressions, his face broke into a wide grin. He immediately slung his arms around their shoulders and warmly pulled them inside.

Zhao Hang tried to struggle a little.

But to his surprise, Zhang Yang’s strength was immense. No matter how much he struggled, it was useless. Instead, Zhang Yang used the momentum to pull him into the dark room.

“President Zhang⁴, actually we… I suddenly realized I forgot to bring some things. Maybe I should go back and get them.”

“Yeah, B-B-Brother Zhang, I, I, I… I also just remembered I left something at the job market. I’ll go get it right now…”

As Zhao Hang and Zhong Chongwen were pulled into the house, they were met with a sudden musty smell and the sight of a gleaming kitchen knife resting on the table. Both of them panicked instantly.

When Zhang Yang casually closed the door and stood in front of it, Zhong Chongwen was so terrified that his stutter vanished!

What was this guy planning to do!

“Get what?”

“I, I, actually… I!”

Zhong Chongwen stammered for a long time without finishing a sentence.

His mind was a total blank, his heart pounding with anxiety. Scenes from movies like Hell Killer and House of Dismemberment flashed through his head.

They were just fresh college graduates…

And this was their first time experiencing such a deceptive situation.

For a moment, they had no idea what to do.

“Don’t be afraid…” Zhang Yang couldn’t help but laugh when he saw their expressions. He shook his head. “Sit down. What era do you think this is? I’m not going to do anything illegal. Besides, there are people everywhere outside. If you scream, everyone will hear you…”

“Then, you…” Zhong Chongwen felt a bit better after hearing that. On second thought, it did make sense.

“Sit. We’ll sit down and talk in detail.”

…………………………..

The incandescent light was dim.

The table was an old-fashioned square one⁵ that looked like it had seen many years.

On a nearby desk, books were piled up. A quick glance showed that they were all related to various forms of art.

Sitting on the rickety wooden chairs, Zhao Hang and Zhong Chongwen watched as Zhang Yang picked up a milk candy, unwrapped it, and began to chew slowly while looking out the window.

For a fleeting moment, his gaze seemed incredibly weary, as if he had lived through ages.

Then he turned his head, his expression serious. “The gap between your expectations and reality is quite large, isn’t it?”

Zhao Hang and Zhong Chongwen didn’t speak. Under Zhang Yang’s gaze, they felt a bit guilty.

Zhang Yang continued to smile. “2005 is truly a great era. The gaming industry is booming, the future is full of hope and passion, the internet is in its infancy, and the network age is about to enter a period of explosive growth…”

Zhang Yang chewed his milk candy, speaking as if to himself.

Zhao Hang and Zhong Chongwen could hear the deep nostalgia in his voice.

Under the dim light, Zhang Yang’s eyes were unfathomably deep, reflecting a touch of sentimentality. He was clearly young, yet he gave off the aura of someone much older.

After his moment of reflection, Zhang Yang looked at them quietly. “What do you think a game is? Where did it originate… and where does its future lie?”

Zhao Hang answered instinctively, “President Zhang, I don’t know what you’re getting at, but a game is a platform on the network that we play and participate in. There are many types. A long time ago, there was the Subor⁶, and now there are arcades. In the future, I think computer games will be the mainstream…”

“You’re right, but…” Zhang Yang nodded, his eyes narrowing as they grew even more profound. “It’s incomplete.”

“Huh?”

“Games originate from ancient times. After our ancestors finished their labor, they needed a way to relieve their exhausted bodies and mental stress. Since the dawn of humanity, from the very beginning, games have accompanied everyone…” Zhang Yang smiled, a very peculiar expression on his face. “Of course, what I want to talk about now isn’t the origin of games, but a game in reality… For example, me. Right now, I only have thirty yuan in my pocket. Once today is over, I don’t even know where my breakfast for the day after tomorrow will come from. I might not even last that long… If I hadn’t made that recruitment sign, I might be a little better off…”

“…”

“The rent is up in two days. In Yanjing, finding another place like this for two hundred yuan a month is nearly impossible-or rather, it simply doesn’t exist.”

“…”

“In this city where every inch of land is worth its weight in gold⁷, I haven’t had a job in half a month. I can’t even compete with the others picking through trash on the streets… If you can’t make it in Yanjing, you can go back to the countryside. But I have nothing there. No family, no house, not even relatives… In this world, I am likely all alone.”

“…”

“Many years ago, I felt like I had reached the most difficult moment of my life. But many, many years later, I’ve found that I only face even greater hardships-the kind of hardship where you can’t see any hope…”

“…”

Zhao Hang suddenly realized he couldn’t understand what Zhang Yang was talking about.

He saw that Zhang Yang seemed incredibly sincere, yet the words he spoke were profoundly bleak. The sense of world-weariness in his voice seemed to grow stronger by the second.

What exactly was he trying to do?

“Actually, I often ask myself… I feel like I’ve lived a terrible life, and then I ask why I’m so miserable.”

“I used to be very angry, thinking the heavens were unfair. I’ve been discouraged, thinking the world was meaningless.”

“But watching the bustling crowds and the bright sunshine, I suddenly felt, in a single moment, that our lives are actually just a game. It’s just that some people start the game at a higher level, and some start lower. As for me, I’m a Level 1 character⁸. Right now, I have nothing-no money, no power. It’s as if the world set me on Hell Mode⁹.”

“But…”

“What does it matter?”

“…”

Zhang Yang stood up.

His voice remained sincere, but it now carried an indescribable, blood-pumping intensity.

Under the dim light.

A flash of madness crossed his eyes, a flicker that made Zhao Hang and Zhong Chongwen’s hearts skip a beat.

At this moment, Zhang Yang looked like a religious zealot recruiting followers, or perhaps a madman. You could never tell what he was planning next.

Outside the window, a beam of moonlight shone down.

Inside, Zhang Yang slowly pulled several resumes from his pocket, all held together with clear tape.

Then, he took out his phone.

He played a recording.

Zhao Hang was stunned.

Zhong Chongwen was stunned too.

They stared fixedly at the items.

“These are your resumes. They were thrown into the trash like garbage.”

“…”

As soon as Zhang Yang finished speaking, the recording began to play.

“People who can’t even get into college probably have some real IQ issues… He was talking big at our Mumaen recruitment booth, acting so confident I almost thought he was some top-tier talent returning from overseas. Then I looked at his education and could barely keep a straight face! What even is this?”

“Actually, there are quite a few of these weirdos…”

“And these ones-a stutterer who can’t even speak clearly, and this one who looks like a big, dumb oaf but says he wants to join the operations department. Why doesn’t he just ask for the moon? And this one, he looks sickly… People like this might lower the overall quality of the company. Forget it.”

“…”

The audio was blurry, but…

They could hear it clearly enough.

Zhao Hang and Zhong Chongwen were shell-shocked.

The faces of several HR representatives flashed through their minds, people whose smiles had seemed so earnest and sincere.

But…

How could a big company like that do this?

Why would they do this?

Even if they wanted to clear them out, couldn’t they have waited until they were back at the office to dispose of the resumes?

Why…

They were frozen.

Their hearts sank to the bottom of an abyss in an instant.

“I once thought the world was full of sunshine, and that people were inherently positive.”

“But later, I discovered the darkness hidden behind the sun is even colder.”

“Yet, there’s no denying that this is an era of great change!”

“In this era of shifting winds and clouds¹⁰, if you take one step forward, what you create might just be history!”

“Join me. Let’s do something. Then, show those people who rejected you just how foolish they were.”

“Though we are like wild grass¹¹, we must grow upward against the wind…”

“Make the world dance for you!”

“…”

(End of Chapter)

Translator’s Notes