Chapter 1

Milky Way —— Solar Ring · 14th Ring Zone

At night, the gloomy sky was filled with rolling thunder. No rain fell, and the air was heavy and oppressive.

A lightning bolt flashed, making a mansion on the outskirts particularly noticeable.

Silence returned, with faint thunder echoing in the distance.

The sudden brightness illuminated the area. It was not the mansion, but a psychiatric hospital.

Darkness returned again. The building loomed like a giant beast in the darkness, lying in wait.

In contrast, a hundred kilometers away, the city was bustling. Skyscrapers towered into the dark clouds, and countless shuttles zipped between the buildings.

Under the dark clouds, a large airship slowly circled the city. Neon lights on the ship displayed "GG."

[TransTech, customizing your daily weather. Clear skies, rain, radiation clouds, quantum dust, solar storms — all available. Call for reservation: 014-41562491]

After the lightning, the air became even more oppressive.

Suddenly, a sharp alarm pierced the night sky, echoing over the hospital.

[Patient detected outside the ward. To avoid unnecessary trouble, please stay in your rooms and do not lie in the corridors —]

Two minutes later.

Chaos reigned inside the hospital. In the front yard, two figures stood by the front door, one inside and one outside.

"Damn it, what do you want?" A hurried and tense voice sounded. The middle-aged man in a security uniform lowered his voice, nervously glancing at the figure by the building entrance.

He was somewhat clever. After the system alarm went off, he realized the patients would try to escape, so he rushed to the front door. He found a strange colleague who had arrived earlier, pointing at the bushes outside and shouting not to run. The colleague even threw pebbles from a path.

He had no reason not to trust his colleague.

So he opened the front door, about to investigate the bushes. Suddenly, his colleague quickly took off the security uniform, revealing the striking blue and white patient's gown underneath, and ran out the door with a joyful expression.

He knew it was over.

If anyone found out he had opened the door and let a patient escape, he would lose his job, which he had obtained from a robot.

Compared to humans, robots were easier to exploit and cheaper, as they never got tired.

His plan now was: let him go, unnoticed, and keep his job. No one would know he had let him escape.

"If you don't want to be caught, get lost." He controlled the door to close, making a fierce expression, hoping to scare him away.

But he forgot that the young man was a patient at the psychiatric hospital. Anyone here had some issues with their brain.

"Leave?" The young man shouted, pressing his face against the fence, distorting it as if he wanted to crawl back in. He glared at him with a squint: "Not a chance —"

Thus, the previous conversation ensued.

"Damn it, what do you want?" The security guard was seething.

The young man's expression suddenly turned serious, like a normal person: "You know, I have no money, so if I just go out..."

The security guard glanced behind him, seeing a figure approaching the entrance.

[User Dinton has transferred 1000 credit points to you.]

"Only 1000?" A message displayed on his retina, the young man complained, then muttered to himself: "Forget it, what's a bike? Add me as a friend, and we can have a meal together sometime."

[User: Musu has requested to add you as a friend.]

"No! Can you... can you leave now?" The security guard struggled to change "get lost" to "leave."

"Quick, accept, quick, accept —" The young man shook the fence, shouting excitedly.

Seeing his crazy behavior, the security guard had no choice but to accept.

"Is this okay now?" He could already hear voices behind him and turned nervously. Two figures were walking through the front yard park, heading this way.

He turned anxiously: "What the hell..."

His voice trailed off. He could no longer see the young man.

He pressed his face against the fence, moving his eyes left and right, and with a flash of lightning, he saw only an empty street.

"Dinton? What's wrong?"

A colleague's voice came from behind.

"Nothing... I was afraid a patient might escape, so I came to check. Nothing's there." Dinton said casually, following the two back inside.

A lightning bolt split the oppressive night sky, casting long shadows of the fence. One of the shadows was particularly strange and dark.

Dinton shuddered. Uneasy, he suddenly turned his head.

Boom —

In the rolling thunder, he saw only an empty front door.

Was everything just a hallucination due to my nervousness...

His thoughts didn't last long.

A few minutes later, a message appeared in his vision.

[Your friend Musu has invited you to pay for his expenses at the 14th Ring Kaisi Star Group, totaling 194 credit points.]

[Your friend has sent you a message: Musu: Love you (heart)]

Dinton trembled and chose to pay.

And a few minutes later —

[Your friend Musu has invited you to pay for his expenses at the convenience store: 33 credit points]

"Ughhhhhh!"

Valentine Street · Park

On a bench by the park path, a young man with black hair and black eyes, wearing a blue and white patient's gown, sat down and let out a contented sigh.

A few couples strolled by, whispering and exuding the scent of love.

Suddenly, a voice cried out: "Look! It's a shooting star. I thought I'd never see one in my life..."

"Liu Xing? Why is he here instead of filming his family drama?"

Musu on the bench looked up. All he could see was the dark clouds.

Even without the clouds, in the solar orbit, he could only see the iron dome overhead.

Across the path was a long street. Occasionally, shuttles descended from the sky, and men and women got out. Pedestrians walked along the street, and ground vehicles were rare. The only ones were a group of teenagers riding powered skateboards.

The walls of the buildings displayed flashing GG advertisements, projecting various GG promotions into the park, causing noise pollution.

[Want your own personal butler? Want a unique robot companion? Felin Machinery, customizing your wishes. Address: 14th Ring · Trans Street 39. Whatever you want, we have it.]

[The best private game ever! Put on the helmet, and you'll experience the technological explosion era 400 years ago. Almost infinite freedom. You can become anyone you want. A scientist, a tycoon, a dictator, an arms dealer. You can interact with any great figure of that era. What are you waiting for? Call to order: 014-12346131, free delivery!]

[14th Ring, with a 99.8% crime-solving rate and an average solving time of 1 hour and 15 minutes. Ranked in the top 10 for 25 consecutive years in solar ring security. Beautiful and pleasant environment, the district mayor's team is dedicated to serving residents. 14th Ring, your best choice for settling down.]

Listening to the GG ads, Musu took a can of cola from his bag.

Burp —

He opened it, drank it all in one go, burped, and turned to look at the middle-aged man on the other end of the bench, who was staring at his clothes, and raised the soda can in greeting.

"Nice clothes, right?"

The middle-aged man forced a smile, turned away, and subtly moved to the side.

[... A bizarre and colorful place, welcoming the insane.]

Hearing the word "insane," Musu instinctively looked up at the source of the sound.

On the right building, a GG screen.

It was a black man standing in front of a pure white background. His hair and beard were neatly trimmed and slightly gray. He wore a clean and straight suit.

His deep blue eyes revealed infinite wisdom, as if they could see through the soul.

He spread his arms, as if holding something. His voice was deep and magnetic: "You call it a game, but I prefer to call it — another world."

"And this." A string of 0s and 1s appeared in his palm, transforming into an old-fashioned metal key. "To open the door to another world, you will need this —"

His tone suddenly lightened: "The key costs 10,000 credit points, no negotiation. After a good sleep... welcome you."

[After a good sleep is now available on the Valve game platform, details...]

[? Her name is Lola, she was a showgirl. With yellow feathers in her hair... the red Martian exotic charm. Drifting in the green...]

The screen changed to another GG.

"Insane Space." Musu was interested.

"Hey, want to see a magic trick?"

"What?" The middle-aged man on the other end of the bench looked confused.

"Magic." Musu turned his body: "Give me anything, and I can turn it into money."

...

Musu casually put his arm around the middle-aged man's shoulder, snapped his fingers, and said excitedly: "Quick, anything."

"Street magic show?" The middle-aged man缩了缩脖子，摸了摸口袋，说道：“我没有什么……”

说着，他从口袋里翻出一块拳头大的控制板，大概是出门时不小心装进去的。

那个年轻的“街头魔术师”一把抢过手上的控制板，横穿小径，手撑在公园围栏，动作利索地纵身翻越。

啪——

脚绊到围栏，“街头魔术师”脸朝下摔在黑色路面上，声音清晰到他都能听见。

街头魔术师手忙脚乱地爬起来，一边用袖子擦着鼻血一边呜呜哭着小跑到街对面的小巷中。

那里发生了什么。

在昏暗的灯光下，一男一女正在巷子里争吵。男的臃肿肥胖。女的苗条修长，身着单薄的睡裙，长腿上挂着匆忙穿上的丝袜。

她的小臂外侧露出金属电路，是个合成人。似乎是因嫖资而发生了争执。

长椅正对着小巷，所以他看得很清楚。

然后他就看到，那个年轻的“街头魔术师”抡起他给的控制板，将胖子拍晕。然后在机械女人捂嘴惊呼后退中，迅速蹲下，利索地翻找口袋。

片刻后，有所收获的“街头抢劫魔术师”站起，那张沾满血污的脸朝这边望来，双腿交叠，双臂摊开微微欠身，行了一个绅士礼。

他似乎听到脑海里有一道声音。

“噔噔噔噔~”

...

一小时后。

郊外的一家家庭旅馆。

与远处灯火辉煌的城市群相比，这座平原上的独栋旅馆显得颇为宁静。

301房间

最新款的Valve游戏头盔放在床边。相比头盔这个显得笨重硕大的形容词，用面罩来形容更合适。

轻薄的它使得即使躺在床上也不会感到不适。只是没有游戏舱那么方便。

因为是新购的游戏头盔，里面只包含刚刚购买的《熟睡之后》一款游戏。

游戏的GG词显然吸引了Musu。他辛苦“赚”了些钱，躲到这里偷玩游戏，并利用配送游戏头盔的十几分钟，登录官网了解游戏。

游戏特色是随机副本。在今天稍早一些时间刚刚开服。作为主运算程序的量子计算机智子收集了人类数百年近代史的一切资料。无论是历史文献、娱乐影音，还是网络作品、随手而作，都有记载并吸收纳入。

若要形容，就像是阅读了数百年所有文学作品的AI，然后让它编写小说。

没有耐心的Musu迫不及待地跳上床戴上头盔。

视线内一片漆黑，如同被蒙上眼睛或置身黑暗之中。

起初还能感觉到身体的存在。几秒后，陌生的女声在耳边响起，同时失去了对身体的知觉。

[欢迎来到《熟睡之后》。]

[登录公网中。]

[DNA序列已记录。]

[所在地：太阳环14区。]

[神经接入中……]

[身体检测已完成，默认关闭所有强制系统。如需开启请在游戏中呼出设置。]

[当前玩家形象为默认同步现实。如需改变请呼出操作设置。]

[加载模式为睡眠模式。在当前模式下，您只能与相同模式的玩家匹配，并可享受1:7的游戏时间比例。最高可保持现实72（×7）小时的连续在线时间。使用游戏舱您将能在深度睡眠下游戏。]

[神经心率记录准备完毕。当玩家状态异常时将被强制弹出游戏并收费提供医疗服务。]

[随机默认服装……已完成]

[准备就绪]

[请输入昵称。除中英文外的特殊字符将不允许被使用为昵称。]

直打瞌睡的Musu见终于轮到自己出场，想也不想脱口而出。

“疯不觉。”

—

*合成人法则第5189条：任何时刻，机器人需保留明显的外部特征，用以区分合成人与人类的区别。