Just as Brian Carter was pondering what kind of posture he should use to appear before the players, a “ding” suddenly sounded in his mind.

Immediately after, a line of text appeared before his eyes.

【Mission Complete!】

Brian Carter’s heart tightened slightly.

It’s here!

……

“Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap! This is insane!”

In a nondescript room in the living quarters next to the residents’ hall, four incubation pods simultaneously unlocked, opening their semi-transparent doors.

Sitting up from the open pod, William Clark stared in shock, looking around with a face full of astonishment, even dazed.

This—

Is this the game world?!

Up until a minute ago, he was still muttering to himself, wondering if this could be an elaborate prank.

But just as he was lying on his bed, wearing a fully charged helmet and about to fall asleep, a beam of light pierced through the darkness and shot toward him.

When he opened his eyes again, he was already in a strange room.

His body was wet and sticky.

As if he’d just been fished out of a pool.

The wind blowing from the vent above his head fell on his shoulders, and he could clearly feel the liquid slowly evaporating, taking away the heat from his body.

There was even a faint, unpleasant smell lingering in the air.

William Clark suddenly snapped to attention, eyes wide open.

Sight!

Smell!

Touch!

Taste!

Hearing!

All five senses!

Awesome!!!

The immersive physical sensation made his eyes well up with tears.

He never expected that, in his lifetime, he would actually witness fully immersive virtual reality technology!

This was beyond anything he could have imagined!

And it wasn’t just him.

The other three players who sat up from their pods also showed the same look of shock on their faces.

“Damn, damn, damn, damn.”

“…I seriously thought this was a joke.”

“Holy crap! It really is full immersion!”

“Is technology really this advanced now??? Damn, how come I’ve never seen this on the news?!”

“Hiss… Even pain is real.” One player pinched himself.

“Who the hell are you? An NPC?”

“NPC my ass, I’m Old White! Time Flies! Who are you?”

“What the—? Old Fine?! I’m Gale! Level 8 Gale! Why do you look like that? Hahaha, I’m dying here.”

“Screw you! Call me Old Fine one more time and I’ll show you what Old Rough means… Hey, this game is interesting, looks like our appearances are preset? I wonder if we can customize our characters in the open beta.”

Old White also pinched himself. Even though it hurt, his face was full of joy.

Excitement!

Thrill!

Incredulity!

Dreams coming true!

William Clark, in the bed next to them, stared wide-eyed, motionless, trying to process the shock in his heart.

Besides him, there was another guy sitting still, probably Long Days Ahead from the group chat.

This guy was staring thoughtfully between his legs, lost in thought about something.

“Is the default character male? There’s no character creation? I mean… can we make a female character?”

“Damn, you’re such a perv! You must be Ethan Reed.”

“I’m Long…”

“What the—?! Long?! Bro… you know what I mean, right?”

“Get lost, I was just saying. The guy next to me must be Ethan Reed… You’re all here?”

Seeing the three of them looking at him, William Clark finally snapped out of it.

Realizing he was still naked, he quickly grabbed the uniform hanging by the pod and pulled it over his head, replying casually.

“Yeah, just got here… How do you play this game? Isn’t there a newbie tutorial?”

“No idea, we just got here too.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the door to the room opened.

A man in a blue jacket walked in from outside.

Behind him followed a robot shaped like a wastebasket. Its cylindrical body looked a bit clumsy, but the streamlined shell and what looked like polished silver paint gave it a sci-fi vibe.

All four players stared in awe.

“NPC!”

“Looks just like a real person!”

“Is this really a game world?”

“This is way too realistic!”

“Quiet,” interrupting the noisy chatter, Brian Carter glanced around at the four players in the room and spoke slowly, “Welcome to Shelter 404.”

“I am the administrator here.”

“Codename—Dawn.”

The air fell silent in an instant.

The four players, unexpectedly obedient, held their breath and stared at him, afraid to miss any detail of the story.

Looks like his aura had successfully taken control of the scene.

Brian Carter breathed a sigh of relief and continued according to the prepared script.

“First, I have some good news for you—the war is over.”

“But the bad news is, our world has been completely changed. If you’re hoping to pack your bags and go home to your mom right away, that’s clearly not going to happen.”