Zhang Cheng had always felt a faint sense of familiarity with this dragon girl, but he couldn’t quite pinpoint where it came from.
In his memory, when he had first met Lu Qiuchen, this short, baby-faced classmate had looked just like a middle schooler.
That was during the second semester of their first year of high school, just after the school had divided students into arts and science tracks. Because of his height, Lu Qiuchen had been seated in the front row—he was even shorter than many of the girls who had just finished their second growth spurts. Strangers often mistook his age when he went out.
Such a case was rare in the north, where people tended to be taller, and it was around then that Zhang Cheng first noticed the person who would become one of his closest friends.
Maybe it was his short stature and youthful face that made him seem more “adorable,” attracting attention and teasing from the girls in class. Because of being in that kind of environment for so long, Lu Qiuchen developed a more introverted personality.
When he spaced out, his expression would sometimes show a hint of self-doubt and melancholy—an expression that only further stirred the girls’ protective instincts.
During the second semester of their senior year, Lu Qiuchen finally hit a late growth spurt. Over the next year, his height increased rapidly—but unfortunately, he still stopped just short of the national average.
Zhang Cheng recalled the look in Lu Qiuchen’s eyes back then—and found it overlapped perfectly with the look in the dragon girl’s eyes on screen. He sat up straight in shock and quickly opened the game’s forum to search for “Calamity Dragon” and “dragon girl.”
He combed through the search results one by one, carefully reading them and jotting down the important points in a notepad.
Cecilia. “Calamity Dragon.” Silver dragon. Wanted by the Church. Adult dragon. Druid massacre.
That was all the players had managed to uncover so far. It wasn’t much.
An uncontrollable urge rose in Zhang Cheng’s chest—he wanted to log into the game immediately and search for more clues himself.
He took a deep breath, calming himself down. Tomorrow, he would head to the company and buy a gaming helmet using the internal employee discount. He also planned to hire someone to move the promotional beta gift—a full-dive gaming pod—from his parents’ house to his current place.
But lying in bed that night, he couldn’t fall asleep. The image of that dragon girl from the poster haunted his mind.
Could it really be Lu Qiuchen? Or was this all just wishful thinking on my part? Zhang Cheng kept asking himself over and over again.
*****
The next morning, Zhang Cheng didn’t even wait for breakfast. He left the house in a rush and went straight to the company. As expected, his coworkers were still rotating shifts for rest, and those on duty were surprised to see him.
“Hey, Zhang Cheng? You’re in early today,” one of them said, greeting him with a nod.
Zhang Cheng didn’t want to waste time. He walked straight over to one of them and asked bluntly, “Do you remember anything about the final main story boss in the game?”
The colleague blinked, still a little groggy from sleep. “Yeah, sure. Why are you asking about that all of a sudden? You never cared about this stuff before.” To his knowledge, Zhang Cheng hardly ever joined in on company discussions about the game. He was much more interested in company gossip and trivia.
“I watched the new game PV last night. Now I’m actually interested,” Zhang Cheng replied with a slight smile. His tone was calm and polite, even though he was feeling increasingly anxious inside.
Though Zhang Cheng had phrased it mildly, the colleague instantly caught on. His eyes lit up, and he teased with a grin, “Oho? Little Zhang finally having a romantic awakening? Never took you for someone into dragon girls… Ahem. I don’t know too much about it myself, but you should ask the dev team. I think Brother Li is in charge of that part.”
Realizing that they weren’t really close enough to be joking like this, the colleague coughed awkwardly and changed the subject. He offered to help Zhang Cheng get in touch with the development team downstairs.
Zhang Cheng thanked him and headed down to find Brother Li from the dev team. On the way, he passed by the massive poster on their floor’s front desk. This high-resolution print was even clearer than what he had seen on his computer the night before.
For a split second, he felt like the dragon girl in the image overlapped perfectly with the look in Lu Qiuchen’s eyes once again.
Zhang Cheng snapped back to his senses and gave a self-deprecating laugh. It was better not to get his hopes up too much. After all, the idea of transmigrating into a game was far too absurd—and keeping his expectations low would help soften the blow of disappointment.
When he stepped out of the elevator, that Brother Li was already waiting for him at the front desk. He seemed quite attentive and immediately led Zhang Cheng to a small office.
Zhang Cheng understood right away. That colleague upstairs had clearly told this Brother Li about his father’s identity. Otherwise, with no intersecting interests between departments or any prior acquaintance, why would someone go out of their way to be so accommodating?
After Zhang Cheng explained his purpose, Brother Li’s expression turned a bit troubled upon hearing that he was inquiring about the game’s main storyline boss. He opened his mouth but said nothing.
Zhang Cheng found his reaction strange. While his question was a bit out of bounds, it wasn’t exactly classified within the development department. Considering that he was both an employee and the boss’s son, there was no reason to be this secretive, right?
Brother Li could tell from Zhang Cheng’s expression that he had misunderstood. With a sigh, he said, “The question itself isn’t classified. I can’t reveal anything about the storyline, but if it’s just character settings and not plot-related, that should be fine.”
He smiled wryly. “The embarrassing part is that most of the NPCs and bosses in this product were automatically generated by ‘Beta’ and have nothing to do with us.”
When Zhang Cheng heard “Beta,” realization dawned on him—he now understood why Brother Li was reluctant to speak.
The “World” series supercomputers were the latest generation developed by the Eternal Group two years ago. There were four units in total, named using the Greek letters α (Alpha), β (Beta), γ (Gamma), and δ (Delta).
Alpha, Gamma, and Delta were all located at the company’s headquarters, handling various research projects. Beta, however, was built deep beneath the very building they were in now. To ensure its stable operation, the group had even invested heavily in constructing a nuclear power station near the coast—about a hundred kilometers from S City—exclusively to supply electricity to this building.
“You’re saying… this boss was also generated by Beta?” Zhang Cheng suddenly stood up, unable to contain his excitement.
If the dragon girl was simply the creation of the game’s character designers, then all his previous speculations would fall apart. But now, hearing this from Brother Li, he felt that his theory might actually hold water.
“Yeah… what about it?” Brother Li was baffled by this rich young man’s strange behavior. His reaction was utterly confusing. Did upper management think I’ve been slacking off too much lately and sent this guy to test me? But some of the characters he’d designed had been accepted and even praised by leadership just a few days ago. Brother Li looked at Zhang Cheng, thoughts spinning wildly in his mind.
Realizing he had overreacted, Zhang Cheng cleared his throat and continued questioning Brother Li. But the man, now wary of a potential sting operation, refused to answer any questions related to the main storyline. He only shared a few unimportant details.
Even after sending the satisfied Zhang Cheng off, Brother Li remained puzzled. What exactly did that young master come here for? Was he really just asking about a game character?
Zhang Cheng returned to the operations floor and suddenly remembered he still needed to buy a gaming helmet. Smacking his forehead, he turned around and headed to the sales department, where he purchased the latest model of a full-dive VR helmet at the internal employee price.
According to the salesperson, the new model was equipped with a livestreaming module and a built-in contacts system. Users could even link their social accounts to interact with in-game friends in real life through those platforms.
Having taken care of both matters, Zhang Cheng could barely contain his excitement to dive into the game—but he still forced himself to complete the rest of his workday.
The Eternal World Company followed a flexible work-hour system. Since Zhang Cheng had clocked in early that morning, he was able to leave early as well. He rushed home as fast as he could, put on the helmet, and logged into the game.
Even when he had participated in the game’s closed beta two and a half years ago, he had never felt this eager. His hands trembled slightly from excitement as he adjusted the headset.
But just as he was about to launch the game, he suddenly recalled the morning’s conversation with Brother Li and began pondering a critical question: If that dragon girl really is Lu Qiuchen… and she now exists within the game world, then how could he possibly save her?
How does one rescue a string of data?
*****
Lu Qiuchen awoke from a haze, her eyelids slowly opening as her dazed eyes scanned her surroundings. In the next instant, her eyes widened in shock.
What are those blue symbols at the bottom of my vision?
Why do they feel… familiar?
LV: 120 HP: 30,000,000/30,000,000 MP: 500,000/500,000
WTF?! Lu Qiuchen was jolted awake, her sleepiness completely gone.
Level? Health points? Mana? A game system?!
She had only taken a nap—and the whole world had changed!
The silver dragon remained lying in the snow, unmoving.
It took a while before Lu Qiuchen could process everything. She stared at the interface in front of her, overwhelmed with excitement.
“Exit game!” she shouted at the top of her lungs—but nothing happened.
Panicking, Lu Qiuchen pulled up the game menu and quickly checked the available options.
On the main menu, only the character status, skill tree, map, and quest system were accessible. Everything else was locked.
“Why is this happening?!” Lu Qiuchen was truly freaking out. Just when she had finally gotten used to living as a dragon in this world, a sudden glimmer of hope to return home had appeared—only to be crushed the next instant.
“Exit game! Exit game! Exit game!” she repeated, but the system remained completely unresponsive.
The negative emotions she had been suppressing deep inside her heart suddenly burst forth. Lu Qiuchen spread her wings wide, shook off the thick snow piling on her head, and soared into the sky, venting her rage over the boundless snowy plains.
But the more she vented, the deeper her sorrow became. After wreaking a bit of destruction, sadness overwhelmed her fury. She reverted to her human form, collapsed into the snow, and began sobbing uncontrollably.
Time passed. Eventually, her cries quieted. Sniffling, Lu Qiuchen forced herself to calm down and analyze the situation.
There was no doubt about it—the strange yet familiar interface was from Eternal.
Had she been in the Eternal world this whole time? How had she come here? What exactly was her current state? Was she just a program, a string of code? Or was the world of Eternal a real place after all?
Lu Qiuchen had too many questions, but clearly, none of them could be answered at the moment. She forced herself to stay calm and think.
First, check my status. Wiping the tears from her cheeks, she tapped open the character status tab.
Nickname: Cecilia (♀)
LV: 120 (EXP: 1001/190M)
Race: Silver Dragon
Class: Boss
HP: 30M / 30M
MP: 482K / 500K
…
You really didn’t need to emphasize that I’m female!
Lu Qiuchen’s eyes were still red from crying, but now a fresh wave of shock swept over her.
I went to sleep and woke up as a game Boss?!
TL note: Since long strings of zeroes are annoying to read and easy to mistype, the author decided to use standard metric prefixes for large numbers
K = thousand, M = million, G = billion, T = hundred billion (though we probably won’t need T).
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