Dad looked around his son's bedroom again. The bed was a bit messy; the blanket he used last night hadn't been folded and was still in the same state as when he threw it off this morning. The bookshelf was crammed haphazardly with all kinds of books, some of which were half-hanging out because there was no more space, looking like they might fall at any moment. The unzipped backpack lay wide open on the floor, tossed next to the socks he had taken off... Everything was just as usual.

Only then did he gently close the door.

After that very faint "click" sounded, Ryan Howard stayed in the same position for a while, then pretended to stretch, straightened up, twisted his waist left and right with his arms propped up, and took the opportunity to quickly glance at the doorway. He saw that the door was indeed closed and his dad was really gone.

Only then did he pull his phone out from his sleeve, unlock it, and turn on the screen. The phone was still on the same page as before he turned it off.

A soccer player’s face hidden in darkness, hands on hips, standing on the right side of the screen with a soccer ball under his foot. On the left were six big characters: "梦想足球世界" ("Dream Soccer World"), with the "口" in "足" replaced by a spinning soccer ball—yes, this was a mobile soccer game called "Dream Soccer World."

Seeing this screen, Ryan Howard couldn't help but grin eagerly.

After being mocked at school during the day, he just wanted to find a soccer game to blow off some steam. He wasn't a soccer star with amazing skills in real life, but couldn't he be one in a game?

He searched the app store for a long time and finally found this game. What attracted him was this line in the game’s description:

"...Using 3D scanning and modeling technology, you can create an in-game character that looks exactly like you, allowing players to enjoy an immersive experience as if using holographic technology, making it impossible to put down. It can be said to be the most realistic and fun soccer game on the market today!"

Although this description was probably a bit of false advertising, the idea of using scanning technology to put his own likeness into the game was very tempting to Ryan Howard, so he downloaded the game to give it a try.

After all, it was free. If it turned out the description was all hype, he could just delete it.

※※※

Ryan Howard tapped the screen to enter the game, and the scene changed to the character creation step.

Then the phone popped up a request for permission to use the front camera, which Ryan Howard manually allowed.

The screen switched to the front camera view, showing Ryan Howard's face and a circular dotted frame.

Below was a line of text guiding Ryan Howard: "Please place your face within the dotted frame."

After Ryan did as instructed, a new prompt appeared: "Please shake your head left and right."

Ryan Howard continued to follow the instructions.

"Please nod up and down."

Ryan Howard obediently complied, feeling even more excited for what was coming next—he had seen online that this was how phones with facial ID features registered faces. So did this game really have the function of 3D modeling by scanning your face?!

After waiting a few seconds, a line of information popped up on the phone screen, showing his name, height, weight, and age.

Ryan Howard, 170cm, 52kg, 16 years old.

Ryan Howard was stunned when he saw this information. He hadn't expected the game system to be able to display his personal details directly—and all of them were correct!

"Damn, how did it do that? Did it read the data from my phone's apps?"

Just as Ryan Howard was feeling surprised, another input box popped up on the screen: "Please enter your position on the field."

Ryan Howard didn't hesitate and entered "forward."

After submitting his position, he waited a few seconds, and the phone displayed a prompt: "Star player Ryan Howard, welcome to Dream Soccer World!"

After a dazzling display of lights, a Ryan Howard appeared on the phone screen, with the exact same height and weight as the real Ryan Howard. Most importantly, that face... Ryan Howard looked closely and almost thought he had really entered the phone screen himself. It was hard to believe this was the result of 3D modeling on a phone—it looked completely natural, like a real person, not a game model.

Based on Ryan Howard's not-so-extensive gaming experience, all those games on the market that claimed to be "realistic," no matter how exquisite the graphics or how impressive the CG animations, you could always tell the difference with the naked eye. There was always a kind of "lightness" to virtual things, lacking the texture of true reality.

But this virtual "Ryan Howard" in front of him had a real sense of texture. Standing inside the phone screen, it was like a live-action video.

Ryan Howard zoomed in on the facial details. The "Ryan Howard" in the phone was looking at him, and he was looking at "Ryan Howard". The two stared at each other, making Ryan Howard feel like he was taking a selfie with the front camera.

"Damn... this is awesome!" Ryan Howard exclaimed in a low voice. "Has game technology really come this far?"

He zoomed the character out again, swiping his finger across the screen to change the angle and observe his virtual self, letting out amazed "tsk tsk" sounds from time to time.