Under the cover of night, the city teemed with traffic and blazed with lights, yet a weary figure, all alone, blended into the crowd, turning a corner into a residential area and pulling out a key card.
"Beep~~~, door unlocked."
Entering the dim hallway, a password lock opened the shared apartment. The other rooms were shut tight, with occasional sounds of phone calls. He took out a key, turned it in the lock, and entered the small world that was temporarily his.
"Whew, I'm so damn tired!" Su Chen threw his bag wearily into a corner and lay down on the soft bed, letting out a long sigh. As a corporate drone blessed with the 996 work schedule, he was only able to leave work early today because his boss was on a business trip.
Was it worth living a numb existence for a few thousand yuan a month? This thought often spun in Su Chen's mind, but the weariness of life quickly left him no time to ponder it.
"Ding-dong." A crisp QQ notification sounded, and Su Chen curiously picked up his phone. He saw an avatar of a Teutonic knight holding a sword, blinking on the screen.
"Is the Guru there?"
"[Smiling face], Aster, long time no see."
"Yeah, what have you been busy with?"
"Work, the life of a corporate drone [Sigh]."
"Same here. Have you heard? The author of 'Journey into the Middle Ages' is starting a new book."
"[Crying-laughing] Has that old eunuch finally remembered to continue his story?"
"No chance of continuing it, he's probably going to write a new medieval story! [Awkward]."
"I wonder what era he'll write about this time, still German lords?"
Su Chen lay on the bed, typing on his phone with both hands, a slight smile playing on his lips. Aster was a friend from a medieval history reading group when he was still in school. Back then, they would carefree discuss medieval culture, systems, and military in the group: knights in armor clashing, the impact of swords and spears, and the romance of heavy cavalry charges.
"Norse, right! I remember you knew the most about Norse culture back then. Are you still making Viking accessories?"
"Haven't played with them in ages. Even the hidden blade I made back then was given away [Crying-laughing]."
Su Chen shook his head helplessly. The moment he stepped into society, his hobbies, which couldn't even support him, had to be abandoned.
"What a shame, you were really talented. Is it because your wife won't let you play? [Sidelong glance]."
"What wife? I don't have hundreds of thousands for a bride price. I'm a single dog, [Crying-laughing]."
"Hahaha, women only slow down the speed of drawing your sword. Glory is still making armor, he even showed us a chest plate yesterday."
"[Image]."
"666666, I admire you, brother."
...
Su Chen looked at the chest plate, a pang of sadness in his heart, and couldn't help but think of his own hidden blade, made of wood and rubber bands. He had visited several forum experts to create it, and even carved Norse-style decorations on it, making it incredibly beautiful.
"Remember when we said which country we'd want to transmigrate to? You were the only one willing to go to Norse."
"Yeah, the Norse barbarian style suits me best."
"Isn't being a noble knight more appealing?"
"[Crying-laughing] Not everyone who transmigrates can become a noble lord. If you end up as a serf in the southern kingdoms, that's worse than death. But Vikings are different; they're still under a tribal system. Slaves can be freed and become freemen, and some great Viking warriors were once slaves."
"I still think knights are awesome. Vikings are all muscle, not much to look at."
"Vikings aren't just brute strength; on the contrary, many of them are very cunning, otherwise they couldn't have swept across Europa, occupied England, and almost conquered Paris."
"Awesome! Hahaha, if only we could transmigrate! I'll be a knight, you be a Viking barbarian. We'll command thousands of troops and wipe out the Green Robe together [Sidelong glance]."
"[Crying-laughing]."
Su Chen couldn't help but give a wry smile. When he put away his phone, the medieval battle scenes that haunted his dreams kept him awake for a long time.
"Damn it, I'll just play some Mount and Blade to get my fix."
Thinking this, Su Chen was itching to play. He didn't care if he couldn't get up tomorrow. He flipped over, turned on his computer, and prepared to play a few rounds of Mount and Blade and CK3.
A melodious music began, and a map of Europa appeared on the screen. Su Chen immediately focused on the game.
Unconsciously, it had grown dark outside. Su Chen rubbed his red eyes, yawned, and his stomach rumbled.
"Damn, it's this late. I'll just order takeout." Su Chen checked the time; it was already 11:15 PM.
"Ding-dong."
Suddenly, a message popped up on the screen, freezing the game.
"What the hell? Is Steam having another sale?"
Su Chen squinted, carefully reading the message.
"Do you want to become a warrior of the Middle Ages? Click me to fulfill your wish."
"What kind of weird promotion is this?" Su Chen almost burst out laughing. How could such an old-fashioned advertisement even be sent out?
"Boom boom boom." But along with a drumbeat, a soft chant emanated from the speakers. Su Chen was slightly startled. This wasn't just ordinary drumming; it was an ancient Norse chant.
"Interesting! Uh, at most I'll skip one lunch. Gabe, you're ruthless." Su Chen shook his head helplessly, his hand on the mouse, the white arrow moving towards it.
"Don't click."
Suddenly, Su Chen felt a buzzing in his head, his ears ringing, and a faint, subtle voice emerged.
"Holy crap, my ears are ringing. I really need to rest early. Forget it, I'll save my money! What if there's another sale next time?" Su Chen hesitated, then moved the mouse away from the advertisement.
The advertisement had the color of parchment, with Viking patterns along the edges, making it look quite authentic. However, Su Chen resisted the urge, stretched, and went to order takeout, and also to take a shower in the communal bathroom.
Moonlight streamed through the curtains onto the computer. The promotional text actually shimmered with silver light as the moonlight passed over it, and where the light touched, something like a spell appeared, but quickly vanished.
"Your takeout has arrived."
Su Chen had just finished showering when he heard the delivery person's voice outside. He quickly opened the door and took the takeout.
"Let's find something to watch while I eat!" Su Chen opened the still-warm takeout box while searching for a new show.
"Vikings, an old show, but I can watch it."
"Nagra actually died, oh my god, then what's the point of watching? But Bjorn is so handsome."
"When the old pig suffers, how do the little pigs squeal? Hahaha, King, you're dead."
Su Chen ate his fast food, watching Vikings. He felt angry when Nagra was thrown into a pit of vipers and died, and cheered when the Vikings united to perform the Blood Eagle on the King.
"Bang bang bang, aren't you going to sleep this late?" Suddenly, Su Chen's wall was knocked, and his roommate in the shared apartment voiced his displeasure.
"Damn it, he's the one fighting with his girlfriend all night, ugh." Su Chen grumbled softly, but it wasn't easy struggling in a big city, so he didn't escalate the conflict. He just put on his headphones, but soon that season of the show ended.
"Still not enough. Oh, right, that earlier one should have been a Viking-themed game! I wonder if it's a farming sim, an action game, or a strategy game, any of them would be fine! I'll play one round and then go to sleep." Su Chen remembered the advertisement that had suddenly popped up. He closed the webpage. Thankfully, he hadn't closed the advertisement; it sat quietly in the center of the screen, with a pair of Viking eye-guard helmets at the top, seemingly watching Su Chen like human eyes.
"Click." Su Chen moved the mouse over the advertisement, his finger clicking the mouse, and a crisp sound rang out.
"Buzz, contract fulfilled, transmission commencing."
When the mouse clicked on it, a deep male voice sounded, and the eyes of the Viking eye-guard helmet turned crimson.
"Is it that chuunibyou?" Su Chen couldn't help but give a wry smile. Such chuunibyou lines certainly didn't seem to come from a legitimate developer.
"Caw caw caw." At this moment, Su Chen's computer screen actually went black, which utterly bewildered him. Before he could react, he heard a chorus of crow caws, and countless flying crows appeared on the screen.
"Buzz buzz buzz~~~." These crows actually flew out of the screen, circling around Su Chen, who, in his panic, fell off his chair. But when he finally managed to get up amidst the crows' assault, he found everything around him pitch black.
"What's happening to me?" Su Chen wanted to shout to attract the attention of others, but he found he couldn't make any sound at all. Then he gradually lost consciousness and fell into a deep sleep.
After a long time, Su Chen felt something glaring. His eyelids twitched a few times, then slowly opened. What met his eyes was golden light filtering through countless cracks, a gentle warm breeze softly caressing him, and the scent of grass mixed with cow dung wafting around his nose.
"What happened?" Su Chen only felt something hard beneath him. He touched it with his hand; it felt rough and scratchy. He seemed to be sleeping on a pile of hay.
Su Chen took a sharp breath, filling his lungs with air, then a feeling of nausea surged into his throat. He quickly sat up and turned to dry heave.
"Ugh~~~." But after heaving for a long time, Su Chen couldn't throw up anything. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Water, where's the purified water?" He vaguely remembered a bottle of purified water on his bedside table from two days ago. He instinctively reached out, but instead of the cool feeling of purified water, he touched something soft and furry.
"Moo~~~." A cow with long-lashed, wide eyes blinked, curiously examining Su Chen in front of it, its wet mouth letting out a low bellow.
"Huh? A cow!" Su Chen's eyes, which were usually slightly astigmatic, were now exceptionally clear. He could even see small insects crawling on the cow's nose, and the cow's warm breath sprayed onto his face.
Su Chen jumped up. How could a cow suddenly appear in his room? But when he stood up, he unexpectedly found that it was a cowshed built of thatch and wood, and he had been lying on a pile of hay, with a pile of smelly cow dung not far away.