31 Black Box

 

“As scientific technology continues to improve, humanity bequeathed machines and AI with more emotions and ability but did you not realize that humanity’s own ability to emote is regressing?” Huang Yin and Han Fei put on VR glasses and they were immediately transported to an alley in the old city.

There were children playing around them and they had the purest smiles on their faces. “From what I have personally seen and experienced, those who live in the intelligent city centre always have a smile on their faces but in reality, they are under enormous pressure from the need to keep up this appearance. We are not really living but repeating the same day until we die.”

After some conversations, Han Fei noticed Huang Yin was quite a knowledgeable and philosophical person, or at least that was the impression Han Fei had of the man. “Human beings evolved from animals but our hearts are slowly turning into a machine. This is something very scary. It is why I love Perfect Life, this one-of-a-kind game.”

Treading on the pebbled street, taking in the smell of rain and plants, Huang Yin opened his arms as if to embrace the virtual space around them. “This game is helping us relocate our missing emotions and cure our souls’ wounds. At this place, we can re-experience the wonderful memories that we have forgotten and we are reintroduced to the most earnest expression of our existence.”

“Really?” Thinking back to what he had experienced in the game and how disjointed it was to what Huang Yin was describing, Han Fei’s eyes almost welled with tears.

“Of course.” Huang Yin said confidently.

“The game’s demo is already so impressive, I wonder how groundbreaking it’ll be when it comes to the official version.” Han Fei removed the VR glasses. The old alley and drizzling rain disappeared at once. He was standing inside a booth with Huang Yin.

“The official version will blow your mind. This is a game that can make your wildest dreams come true. The game lives up to its name, it will present you with your perfect life!” Huang Yin said with a satisfied sigh.

“How come it sounds like you have played more than the demo version? Do you have any insider information?” Han Fei said with a mock-surprise gasp.

“Ha ha, you got me. I’m actually a special tester involved in the 6th CB of Perfect Life.”

When he searched on the official website, Han Fei noticed there were four types of CB players in Perfect Life. The first was the internal gaming staff, they would be the first to test out the game during its many variations. The second was the supervisors from the related government departments. As a super immersive next gen game, it combined the latest scientific technology and almost maddening creativity so the government paid specific attention to it as well. The third were special testers like Huang Yin. They were usually the leaders in their specific industry or profession. They would try out the game from their professional perspective and provide suggestions of improvement to the developers to make the game more interesting and real. The fourth was the general player who managed to gain access to CB through certain channels.

Some of these people were casual players who simply wanted to experience this unique game; others were representatives from gaming studios, they joined to gain firsthand information and guides that could be turned into money when the game entered OB.

“You must be someone important to have gained the invitation to be a special tester!” Han Fei could now confirm that this man was indeed the ‘Huang Yin’ whom he chatted with last night. His earlier prediction was correct.

“I wouldn’t say that, I’m just slightly famous in my field.” Huang Yin was very humble, he had no air of self-importance. He patiently led Han Fei through the convention and greatly hyped up the game. He was more professional than the gaming company’s event organizer.

“You said in Perfect Life, any dream can come true. Assuming I am a horror movie buff, is it possible that I can experience the various plots of horror movies in the game myself?” After confirming the man’s identity, Han Fei started to probe.

“Of course, there is a midnight theme park in the game. It is there for the horror games fans. There, you can relive many classic horror movie plot points and take on some of the most heart-pumping rides in your life. In fact, I believe you can choose to work at the theme park and try to trigger the string of missions that would eventually turn you into the owner of the park.” Huang Yin started to help Han Fei plot out his move, “But there is something that you need to be careful about. There is a data called Sanity Value in game, once it goes over 10, the system will automatically disconnect you from the server to protect your mental health.”

“You’ll get forcibly disconnected when this value crosses 10?” Han Fei’s eyes twitched. In his version of the game, his Sanity Value would have to go over 100 before he could escape from the horrors of the game!

“Once you’re disconnected by the system too many times, your in game character might die. Your life is very fragile in Perfect Life and you only have one life. All your data will reset after death and you’ll start from zero again.” Huang Yin said with lamentation, “Death is very painful, the game teaches a lesson to appreciate the transience of life.”

“I’ve personally watched many horror movies and they normally won’t elicit any fear in me but, some urban legends in real life can get my blood pumping.” Han Fei slowly approached the question that he wanted to ask, “Do you think there will be such a themed plot in Perfect Life?”

“There might be traces of them before the 2nd CB. Based on what I heard, at the time, the game didn’t have much limitation. The players won’t be punished from attacking the NPC. There was a tester who murdered an entire neighborhood and he was later apprehended due to emerging mental problems.”

“Things got that ugly?”

“What do you think? After humanity has its shackles removed, human beings would turn into the scariest monster.” Huang Yin appeared to remember some of the rumors from back then. “Due to the incident that happened to that tester, Perfect Life added many limitations and cut off about a third of its plotlines. Now, in its 6th CB, all of the plotlines that could possibly trigger morality problems have been removed. In fact, even the Easter Egg left in the original creator’s will has been removed.”

“Easter Egg in the creator’s will?”

“You don’t know about that? It’s quite famous in the gaming circle.” Huang Yin lowered his voice conspiratorially, “The CEO of Immortal Pharma passed away due to illness after Perfect Life’s first CB. In his will, he mentioned a black box that he hoped his children could find. According to the man, the box is filled with humanity’s deepest regret, desire, hatred, malice and misfortune. He gave 3 hints to its location, the box is supposed to be at the deepest part of the world, the deepest part of the mind and the deepest part of the human heart.”

“Did someone find the box?” Cold sweat slid down Han Fei’s forehead.

“Nope. There were so many different interpretations and eventually they believed the box was an Easter Egg buried in the game. It was the only place where all 3 hints could make sense. At the time, the testers turned over the game like crazy, looking for it but no one saw any trace of it. However, for some reasons, after the 3rd CB, all of the designs the old gentleman was involved in had been removed and we believed now the Easter Egg is permanently lost.” A sigh of regret escaped Huang Yin’s lips. “If possible, I do wish to know what that Easter Egg is supposed to be when I am still alive.”

“Yes, that does sound quite intriguing.” Han Fei touched the back of his head and uttered calmly.