Friendly neighbors are villains

Amy, who quit the game, rubbed her eyes. She dug out a bottle of eye drops from the drawer and ordered two drops, then closed her eyes and leaned back on the chair to rest for a minute.

Although there was no obvious physical discomfort, Amy still felt that something was wrong all over her body. She couldn't tell what it felt like, as if she was exhausted from running around all day.

She emailed the problem records and data that disappeared from the archives to the mailbox of the headquarters, and then copied a copy to colleagues in the technical department.

The problem Amy is facing now is that the archive disappears, and it is impossible to add a new archive time, unless you directly exit the game to have the option to save.

Obviously this isn't normal, and Amy writes her response emails in great detail.

Not long after the email was sent, Amy received a call from Mr. Borg.

"I hope I didn't bother you, Miss Amy." Mr. Borg said on the other end of the phone, "I have seen your report, and you have done it very carefully. I am very glad that you are willing to continue the game."

"No interruption." Amy said quickly, "I didn't expect you to call directly. I think the technical department will investigate and deal with the reason as soon as possible."

"No, that's not a game bug. In fact, it's a difficulty setting that will appear when the player reaches a certain level." Mr. Borg said, "I set it myself."

Amy thought for a while, and said: "But if this is the case, will it be too difficult? You can't save it. If there is a deviation in the process, don't you have to start all over again. I guess no player can accept such a difficulty. The limit is too high. big."

"Actually, so far, no player has reached the point where this level of difficulty is enabled," Mr. Borg said, "because it requires another condition."

"On what terms?" Amy asked.

"Let a character of the opposing faction have a [-]% favorability with the player." Mr. Borg explained slowly, "I think you should have such an 'achievement' in the game, right?"

"Yes." Amy was a little surprised, "Is it a new setting that you optimized later?"

"It's always been there." Mr. Borg said, "It's just that the game has only been released for half a year, and there has never been a player who can achieve such an achievement. Except for you, excessive reliance on save files is disrespectful to NPCs. Think about it, the other party Obviously there is a chance to knock you down, but you use the archive to escape."

"They're not real," Amy said.

"You can't look at every character in the game with this kind of mood." Mr. Borg pointed out, "They all have souls."

Amy cleared her throat: "Okay."

"If the player has reached a relatively high level in the game, it will be too easy to pass the level without setting a little difficulty. The company also takes this into consideration, so it needs to restrict it."

Amy didn't know that there was such a setting in the game. From the time of development to the present, she had never received similar information from any colleagues or high-level officials.After all, other departments are responsible for the plot of the game, and Amy mainly writes various codes to ensure the construction of the entire grand world view.

But she still believes what Mr. Borg said, using save files is indeed a bit like cheating, although this is the standard configuration of all strategy games: "But I always feel that this design is not, uh, scientific." Amy said euphemistically.

"You may have overlooked one point, Miss Amy." Mr. Borg continued, "Although you can't save files, you can buy resurrection items for 5 dollars a time. You can go to the game store next time."

This makes sense, the purpose of the archive is to ensure that players don't kill themselves in the game, and it wouldn't be too bad if they could be resurrected.

It is the original intention of the game to use various forms to make players pay. As for whether players buy it, this is another topic.

"Miss Amy, since you have started a brand-new customs clearance mode, I hope you can continue. After all, you are the only player who has played it, so it is a new test." Mr. Borg said, "If it turns out that this is indeed It is a redundant setting that affects the game experience, and I will consider canceling it."

"Understood." Amy's heart was a little heavy, which meant that she could no longer make multiple choices in the game at will, save and revive, obviously the former is more convenient and more diversified.

Of course, she can use the resurrection roll unlimited times, and there is definitely no limit to the use of an item that allows players to spend money to buy it.

But it feels completely different. The archive can be played freely while the player is alive, but the resurrection roll can only be used after death.

"Don't worry, I promised you that you will get a bonus no matter whether you pass the level after one month or not, so go ahead and do it boldly." Mr. Borg encouraged, "I would like to ask, who has a good impression of you?"

Amy said: "Spiderman." She said, now it's not a matter of money, Amy has lost the right to choose, and the fun will be much less.

"Spider-Man?" Mr. Borg made a confused voice. "Well, I thought it was..." He stopped.

"What is it?" Amy asked.

"Nothing," Mr. Borg said with a smile. "I thought a young girl like you was more interested in Captain America or Iron Man."

"The randomness of the game is very strong, and I was very surprised." Amy thought for a while, "As a villain, what will happen if you gain the favorability of the enemy camp? I'm curious, and I haven't heard of it before."

"The game is random, you know, there is no fixed direction for what will happen." Mr. Borg's voice gradually became gloomy and low, "Keep playing, maybe you will be pleasantly surprised."

After hanging up the phone, Amy stared at the phone for a while. Mr. Borg seemed to be hinting at something, but he seemed to be just saying it casually.Amy feels that her brain is not enough. She has received too many riddles recently.

Amy is going to have lunch, and it is 02:30 in the afternoon. She was supposed to quit the game at 12:[-], but today's plot is so complicated and exciting that it takes two more hours to play.

She turned off the computer and stood up to stretch her neck. Then, Amy realized a strange problem.

She wasn't hungry, she didn't feel hungry at all. Amy remembered that she had breakfast only 6 hours ago. She seemed to have eaten something now, and she felt full.

Except a little dry mouth.

Amy felt inexplicable and came to the refrigerator to get a bottle of drink. Since the scene in front of her was exactly the same as her room in the game, Amy seemed to be still in the game when she was in a trance.

She began to regret that she had made the role too real. Amy didn't expect that she would have a day when she would be emotionally affected by the game.

In the end, Amy managed to eat something. The basic guarantee of independent living is regular nutritional intake. Even if she has no appetite at all, Amy will never miss three meals a day because of her busy work schedule.

Then, she was ready to go out to get some air.

Amy originally planned to ask Yuko to go shopping in the commercial street. Think about it, today Saturday, she will go camping with her parents in the countryside, so Amy can only go to the coffee shop on the nearby street corner by herself, where she likes dessert.

Walking out of the door, Amy passed by the next door. She remembered that another Peter lived there temporarily, and the other party was a war reporter.

Amy didn't understand why she had to use another Peter to describe him. In America, any boy named Peter could catch one.

Amy raised her hand and was about to knock on the door when Mrs. May spoke to her from the other side of the passage.

"Peter has gone out," Mrs May said, "three hours ago." She was holding a paper bag in her arms, which contained various types of bread and a long baguette.

Amy stared blankly at Mrs. Mei, and said in a strange way: "I seem to have seen you before."

Mrs. May was taking out the key to open the door: "Of course you have seen my dear." She laughed, "Are you going out? The dress is very beautiful, but you'd better not go to the commercial street."

Amy felt that she had played too many games and her brain was not working well. She rubbed her brows and said, "I'm sorry, uh, why can't I go to the commercial street?"

"A 30-story hotel collapsed. I heard it was a bomb planted inside the building." Mrs. May frowned. They took hostages and threatened the government to pay a ransom, and there will probably be news soon, why the public security is getting worse recently."

The commercial street is about an hour's drive from Amy's rental house. In the city center, it is the busiest city with the largest traffic in New York.

Until Mrs. May entered the room and closed the door, Amy seemed to be in a state of sleepwalking.

It feels like something is wrong, but I can't tell.

Amy's cranky thoughts were interrupted by a phone call, and the caller ID was young Peter.

"Hey, good afternoon, Amy, did I bother you?" said the young Peter.

"No." Amy said, "I was at the door of your room when your aunt came back from shopping and she told you to go out."

"Do you need me?" asked the young Peter.

"No, it's just..." Amy didn't know why she wanted to date the young Peter. They had just met, and they had little contact with each other, and they never sent text messages to each other.

"I'm here on the commercial street. There was a terrorist attack here three hours ago. I'm doing interviews and taking pictures." The young Peter explained, "Well, actually, I also looked for you this morning, but there is a sign on your door saying please." Do not disturb sign, I guess you're playing games again?"

"That's my job too." Amy laughed.

"Is your job over now?" asked the young Peter.

"It's over." Amy said.

"I'm done too," said young Peter, and he paused. "Then, may I buy you coffee?"

"I don't like coffee very much," Amy said deliberately.

Young Peter let out a frustrated sigh over the receiver.

"But if you invite me to eat cheesecake, I think I will say yes." Amy said.

The young Peter said happily, "No problem. I remember that there is a coffee shop on the corner of the street. The cheesecake in it is delicious. Can you find it?"

Amy was pleasantly surprised because she happened to be heading to that place: "That's my coffee shop."

"What a coincidence, I used to go there almost every day when I used to live in Queens," said young Peter.

Amy said, "I'll wait for you."

There were very few customers in the cafe in the afternoon. When Amy pushed the door and entered, the wind chime above her head made a crisp sound.

Amy chose a seat by the window.

"What do you want?" The waiter came over to order for her.

"Hot cocoa, thank you." Amy said, "And your signature cheesecake."

There's no problem that a piece of sweet can't solve, and if not, two.

"Wait, let's have another piece of Napoleon." Amy decided to eat two pieces.

After the waiter records the needs of the guests, he goes to the back kitchen to prepare.

Amy looked out of the window with her face propped up, because it was on the back street and there were not many people on the road, her thoughts were a little wandering, all she could think about was the content of the game, explosions, collapses, ruins, and Spider-Man who was still in the medical cabin .

After an unknown amount of time, a red and blue figure suddenly flashed in Amy's sight.

She is very sensitive to this color now.

It's Spider-Man!

Amy was stunned, how could she see Spider-Man?

But it was indeed Spider-Man. He climbed down from the opposite wall and seemed to have noticed Amy. He waved at her and approached the girl with brisk steps.

Amy could hardly believe her eyes, she stood up abruptly with a look of horror and disbelief.

"Wow!" Behind Amy, the young Peter seemed to be frightened.

Amy heard the young Peter's exclamation, and turned around quickly, her face was extremely ugly.

"Sorry, did I scare you?" The young Peter still had a press card around his neck and a SLR camera in his hand. "You were looking outside just now. I called you, but you didn't seem to hear?"

Amy looked out the window again, there were only occasional passers-by, and there was no Spiderman.

"I'm a little..." Amy stroked her forehead, "I'm sorry, I've been too tired recently, and I saw someone who shouldn't be outside just now."

"Who?" The young Peter put down the camera and helped Amy fix the chair she knocked off. "Ex-boyfriend?" he joked.

Amy didn't answer.

"Sit down first and rest for a while." The young Peter gently pulled Amy back to his seat, "You must be doing the test because the game time is too long. I thought you had already quit. The superiors didn't allow it. Fire you?"

Indeed, Amy thought that she should have exited the game two hours ago, but too many sudden changes forced her to complete the task, so that it exceeded the time, and she was indeed a little too addicted during this time.

"No, I want to complete the clearance myself." Amy said, "And you, how are you? I heard from Mrs. May that you went to the scene of the terrorist attack?"

"Yes, I took some important photos." The young Peter said, "It was horrible. Fortunately, all the hostages were rescued, and the casualties were not as severe as imagined."

At this moment, all the plots in the game flashed through Amy's mind, the scene of her and Peter falling from a tall building.

"What's wrong with you?" Young Peter saw Amy's abnormality, "If you feel uncomfortable, I will take you home."

"I had hallucinations just now." Amy told the truth, she pointed out the window, "I saw Spider-Man greeting me."

Young Peter didn't laugh at her: "It seems that you like that guy very much?"

"Maybe, I often interact with him in the game." Amy said.

"So, is he your virtual boyfriend?" The young Peter asked with great interest, "I remember that game where you can fall in love and even get married."

Amy shook her head: "It's the enemy, I'm a villain."

"Whoa, that's cool," said young Peter. "That sounds interesting, so you beat up Spider-Man?"

Amy laughed, and after meeting the young Peter, the depressed air gradually disappeared: "It hasn't developed to that point yet."

They started chatting happily and tasting sweets. Amy told young Peter about the interesting content in the game, and young Peter told anecdotes about his time as a war correspondent.

"I actually have a lot of dreams where I'm Spider-Man," says young Peter. "I can float from floor to floor, and honestly, sometimes it feels so real that I wake up a little disoriented."

Amy looked out of the window from time to time, and she didn't see anything strange except her face was vaguely printed on the glass.

Young Peter saw Amy was out of his mind: "I will take you to a place, I think you will like it."

"Where are you going?" Amy asked.

The young Peter blinked: "There is a place for Spider-Man."

The place where "Spiderman" is mentioned by the young Peter is the surrounding store that Amy often visits. He seems to be very familiar with the clerk, and greeted the other party casually after entering the store.

"If I knew that you were also a frequent visitor to this place, I wouldn't have kept my secret just now." The young Peter said to Amy, and he pursed his lips in embarrassment.

"I didn't know you were into these toys too," Amy said, amused.

"Didn't I tell you, do I like Lego?" Young Peter blushed slightly, "See if there is anything you like. Shopping can make people happy."

The clerk came over and introduced to Amy: "This is the latest Spiderman soldier, maybe you will be interested."

Amy noticed that the clerk was smiling, which looked very much like the AI ​​face of the game store. She took a deep breath, pretended to be calm and focused on the soldier, and forced herself not to think about the game: "How much?"

"150 US dollars, if you become a member, you will get a 8.8% discount." The other party said, "You have purchased products twice in this store, and now you have a free gift with a membership card."

Faced with such familiar lines, Amy's heartbeat suddenly accelerated, and she was covered in cold sweat. She felt extremely uncomfortable, and the clerk in front of her was always turning into the face of an AI salesperson.

"I'm sorry, I, I don't need it." Amy ran out of the peripheral store in a panic.

"Amy!" The young Peter was choosing a Star Wars Lego set, and Amy accidentally bumped into his camera while running out, "Wait, where are you going?"

The clerk asked Peter, "Do I look terrible?"

"Except for the fake smile, it's not bad." The young Peter said, "Wrap that soldier up for me. It looks exquisitely crafted. Look at that face, it still looks a bit like me."

"So you want to apply for a membership card for her?" the clerk asked with a smile.

"No." Young Peter said, "Okay, I'll call you the money later."

"No problem, let's go after your girlfriend first, maybe she found out that you have someone else outside." The clerk said with a smile.

Young Peter said: "Hey, I have never been in love, I hope you don't make such a joke on her."

"So that girl is indeed your girlfriend?" the clerk said.

The young Peter froze for a moment: "I don't know."

This answer surprised him, why would he say he didn't know, instead of a more direct negative answer?

The young Peter chased after him, and he caught up with Amy by the traffic light post not far away: "What's wrong with you, it's okay if you don't feel well, I'll take you home, or if you want to go directly to the hospital, I can send you to the hospital." Free up all afternoon."

Amy took a few breaths, and said with a weak cry: "Peter, I think I have a mental problem..."

The author has something to say: the information content of this chapter is obvious, so I won’t summarize it, which class representative can try~

Hint: Favorability is a trap.

By the way, don't think too much when reading this article, don't look for logic, and don't try to calculate the time ratio between the game and reality, it's too brain-intensive, in short, it must be right as you think.