Online Game: Unrivaled Gods

"Ah Rui, take good care of your sister..."

"You must remember this."

Sun Rui suddenly sat up in bed, covered in a cold sweat. He glanced at the digital clock on the bedside table and realized it was already four in the morning, with the sky just beginning to lighten outside the window.

Sun Rui rubbed his eyes, got up, and started preparing the things he needed. He went to the kitchen to prepare his sister's breakfast.

After preparing breakfast for three people, I awkwardly wrote a few words on the table, then opened the door and started loading things onto my food cart.

Sun Rui makes a living by selling breakfast. She learned to make pancakes from a kind person when she was 10 years old. Although society has entered the high-tech era, people still prefer to eat using the old methods. Nutritional drinks are not very popular now, and it is thanks to this that Sun Rui and her sister are able to survive.

"Little Sun's set up his stall, I'd like a pancake." Sun Rui had just finished preparing everything when an older woman came up to his stall and ordered a pancake.

Sun Rui, his face blackened by years of fire smoke, grinned foolishly and said in sign language, "Aunt Zhang, buying breakfast for your grandson again? It's only a little past 5 o'clock, isn't it a bit early?"

“It’s getting late. My eldest grandson is in his final year of junior high, and he’ll be going to high school soon. He’ll have to attend early morning classes. He should be up by the time I get back after I buy breakfast,” Aunt Zhang replied two or three seconds after Sun Rui finished gesturing in sign language.

"You're in your final year of junior high, good luck!" Sun Rui said, gesturing again after hearing Aunt Zhang's reply.

"Xiao Rui, you should download an analog voice. It would be easier to communicate that way. Although everyone has a virtual terminal now and can understand your sign language, it's still troublesome to communicate. An analog voice only costs 200."

"It's okay, I don't know many people, I can communicate using sign language."

"You child, I really don't know what to say to you. You've saved up quite a bit of money over the years, so why are you still so frugal?"

This time, Sun Rui just chuckled foolishly and didn't reply in sign language.

"Okay, here's your money, go now." Aunt Zhang handed the money for breakfast to Sun Rui.

"Take care, Aunt Zhang."

After Aunt Zhang left, Sun Rui took out a small notebook from his pocket and began to write in it.

When Sun Rui was 10 years old, he went on a trip with his parents. During the trip, they were involved in a car accident. Both of his parents died in the accident, and Sun Rui also lost his voice because of the accident.

After the car accident, Sun Rui began raising his younger sister, who was two years younger than him and was lucky enough to escape the accident because she was staying at her maternal grandmother's house and hadn't gone on a trip. Sun Rui dropped out of school and started learning to make pancakes. Before the age of 14, Sun Rui relied on insurance compensation to make a living. After the age of 14, he started working as a pancake maker and began to save money.

Sun Rui has no other outstanding qualities except that he was strong from a young age, which is why he was able to work on his own at the age of 14.

No one knows what Sun Rui is saving money for; all they know is that he only buys normal daily necessities and never spends money recklessly.

Time passed by, and it slowly came to noon.

Sun Rui checked the time, began packing his things, and prepared to go home.

Sun Rui tidied up his pancake stall, putting the remaining half-bucket of water, half-bag of flour, and some seasonings into the food cart behind him.

"Xiao Rui, are you closing up shop so early?"

As Sun Rui bent down to tidy up, he heard a voice behind him, and he immediately knew who it was! It was Uncle Qian, a regular customer of Sun Rui's.

"Oh, Uncle Qian!" Sun Rui turned around and leaned forward, gesturing with his hands. "I have to tidy up the house today, so I'm going home early."

"Then take it slow."

Sun Rui nodded, then got on his food cart and rode towards his home.

As Sun Rui rode his food cart past the alley in front of his house, he suddenly heard a strange noise coming from the alley. Sun Rui just turned his head to look out of habit and found several people gathered in the alley.

Sun Rui wasn't surprised to see this. Several people in the alley saw Sun Rui looking in their direction and gestured for one of them to walk towards him.

"What are you looking at, kid? Get out of here, this is none of your business," said the arrogant man with blond hair who had been ordered over.

Before Sun Rui could react, a sound like a nightingale's song came from the alley.

"Young master, help me!"

After hearing the cries for help, Sun Rui glanced at the alley again, as was his habit.

The blond-haired man standing in front of Sun Rui saw Sun Rui looking into the alley again and immediately got angry. "Why aren't you leaving yet, kid? Still trying to be a hero and save the damsel in distress?"

Sun Rui glanced at the few people in the alley again, then buried his head and started pedaling his food cart forward, making it clear that he didn't want to get involved in this mess.

The man surrounded by thugs became anxious when he saw Sun Rui about to leave.

"Young master, please don't go, I beg you."

Sun Rui ignored the voice that sounded like a nightingale's song and continued riding his food cart slowly towards his home.

"Little beauty, stop struggling and hand over the money. We're not robbing you of your virtue, just your money. Don't make things difficult for everyone," said a lewd-looking young man among the group surrounding the woman.

Although the young man said he would only rob her of her money and not her virtue, Huang Yi didn't believe him at all. Otherwise, she would have given them all the money she had on her, and besides, she didn't have much money on her herself.

Huang Yi felt incredibly unlucky. All she did was buy a virtual game ring, and she still ran into some thugs. Moreover, she had sneaked out and had no one to protect her. She regretted ever buying the virtual game ring.

"Global Hope," the first live-action virtual reality game, was a collaborative effort between multiple countries. However, after its release, no one pre-ordered it because everyone was concerned about its safety. Live-action virtual reality games have been proposed for a long time, but one hurdle has remained unresolved: human nerve reflexes.

An experiment was conducted more than 1000 years ago. A person was blindfolded and allowed to bleed. Then, they listened to the sound of dripping water and died. This is because the subconscious mind believed that the person was bleeding and would die soon, so the nerves made the body behave like a dead person.

This hidden danger caused the game to be ignored. Even though it was about to be released for public testing, not many people bought it. Strangely, the game did not issue a statement even when it was questioned. As a result, most people were even more hesitant to buy the game. The game company was not in a hurry for such sales results.

Huang Yi had just prepared her allowance and secretly ran out to buy a virtual bracelet, planning to enjoy the scenery during the public beta test tonight. However, things didn't go smoothly from the start; she ran into a group of hooligans right after selling the virtual game bracelet.

When surrounded by thugs, he was overjoyed to see someone he could ask for help, but he didn't expect them to be cowards.

It seems the "hero saves the beauty" trope is all a lie; novels are unreliable, Huang Yi thought to herself.

"Young master, if you save me, I'll give you 5000 as a reward." Huang Yi still shouted loudly towards the alley entrance, hoping to call Sun Rui back.

"Haha, still trying to struggle? Didn't you just say you had no money? Looks like you're not being honest. I'm going to search you." The young man's lewd gaze swept over Huang Yi's graceful figure.

Huang Yi felt ashamed and indignant at the young man's gaze, and just wanted to beat him up.

"Still want to fight? Come on, little beauty, I'll stand here and see what you can do."

"What are you doing back here, kid? Trying to be a hero and save the damsel in distress?"

Just as a group of people were harassing Huang Yi, Huang Mao's voice came from the alley entrance again.

The group turned around and saw that Sun Rui had returned to the alley entrance. After hearing Huang Mao's question, he grinned foolishly and gestured with his hands in sign language.

Everyone understood Sun Rui's meaning through the virtual terminal.

"You're telling the truth, there's a reward of 5000."

"Really, really, hurry up!" Huang Yi said immediately after she understood Sun Rui's sign language.

"Kid, you really value money more than your life!"

As the blond-haired man in front of Sun Rui spoke, he kicked Sun Rui in the stomach, causing Sun Rui to lose his balance and squat down on the ground.

"With this little skill, you dare to play the hero and save the damsel in distress?" The blond-haired man, seeing that he had succeeded in his attack, immediately became more confident and began to taunt.

Sun Rui wasn't angry at being kicked to the ground. He dusted himself off, stood up, and acted as if nothing had happened.

"Bang.."

Sun Rui grabbed a trash can from the side of the alley and swung it at Huang Mao, who fell to the ground with a thud.

"Damn it, everyone attack!" The young man saw Huang Mao being taken down by Sun Rui and immediately called on the people around him to join in.

"Brother Xu, you'd better not go in, run away quickly!" The young man called Brother Xu glanced at the person behind him in surprise.

The person behind the young man immediately whispered, "Brother Xu, didn't you notice? That kid just swung the trash can with one hand. That trash can, including the contents, must have weighed over thirty pounds. He swung it with one hand in one go, and it didn't take much effort at all. We can't take a hit like that."

The young man glanced at his own men and then at Sun Rui, weighing the situation, and considered backing down. However, he felt that backing down directly would make him seem cowardly.

"You'd better run! I've already called the police. Be careful, or they'll arrest you all."

The voice, as melodious as a nightingale's song, drew the young man's attention, and he saw Huang Yi waving her hand behind him, holding a mobile phone.

"Come on, you two, lift up Huang Mao." The young man walked past Sun Rui with a gloomy face.

"Kid, be careful next time."

After hearing the young man's harsh words, Sun Rui just chuckled foolishly.

"Stop laughing, you look like an idiot." After the group left, Huang Yi walked up to Sun Rui and said with dissatisfaction.

Huang Yi emerged from the dark alley, and Sun Rui's eyes lit up.

A woman with delicate eyebrows and white teeth appeared, her small face fair and rosy, making her extremely radiant.

"You won't help unless you give me something in return."

Huang Yi complained, clearly dissatisfied with Sun Rui's earlier disregard.