An Old Friend

Twenty grand was quite a small fortune of money, so there were quite a few things I could spend it on; however, I didn't know what to use it on. I thought of maybe a few VR games I could buy, such as the new game that came out called AscendFail Online. But the description of the game only had one sentence that read, "A new system never seen before with the new lands to explore!" There was no way I would buy a game like that if that's the only thing in the description. Plus the game itself costs $1,000 and not to mention the capsule required to play the game costs $14,000. Together that was $15,000, which would leave me with just $5,000! If I were to try and budget that money to the absolute limits, I would probably be able to last three months or four if I really pushed my body to the extreme. If my parents saw me do that they would probably twist and turn in their graves in the disappointment of their son. Eh, I don't need to worry about what to do with the money just yet, I'll just go home and play some Gladiator Arena when I get back home and sleep in until 10:00 am because it's not like I have a job anymore. I could only glance out the window and watch as the building flew past the car as these thoughts cycled through my mind.

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At an unknown facility somewhere in the Sahara desert: A man just finished working at his station and prepared to log off the computer. Just when he was about to log off a man's voice sounded through the intercom, "Attention all personnel the higher-ups have given each staff the ability to tell one person about what is going to happen with the future of this game. However, once you tell them about what is going to happen, they will be forced to sign our contract where if they leak this information, then they will be executed. That is all, have a good evening." The intercom shut off, and the staff who have been standing till began to get excited as they would finally be able to tell their wives or whoever loved the one about what is going on. But, for the man who just finished his station, he could only sigh as this meant nothing to him. He had no loved ones to tell them this information because they had died in a terrorist attack. He came from a Chinese family whose parents moved from China to America to find a job and support their family. His father worked for a company in Fuzhou, but he got fed up with working with his co-workers because they treated him poorly. When he got the opportunity to work as an accountant for a company in America, San Diego. He immediately talked to his wife about it and was able to convince her to move there. For a while, everything was fine and peaceful. They were able to secure a decent home in the Suburban area of the city in a nice neighborhood. When his father went to work, his mother took care of her only 8-year child called Chung Zhang. However, this all changed one day while their family was shopping at the mall. He told his parents he needed to use the restroom, and his parents told him to be quick because they needed to leave soon. While he was in the restroom, he heard a loud explosion followed by countless people screaming. The only thing he remembered was yelling father or mother while he cried not being able to see them. The next thing he knew a policeman was carrying him outside of the building while his tears got everywhere on the policemen's shirt. Later, he would be told that his parents had perished in the accident, causing him to cry in anguish while he was taken to the orphanage. He spent many nights crying or just locked up in his own little space not caring about anything else. If it weren't for one boy, who helped him and treated him as a friend, he probably might have developed a cold personality. They would spend countless days having fun together, either playing games together, causing mischief together or other things that children would do. Eventually, though when he turned 13, a family adopted him, and as time went on, he eventually lost contact with him. Remembering these thoughts, Chung Zhang let a warm smile appear on his face causing some of his co-workers to look at him weirdly. That's when it hit him, the person he would try and contact would be that boy from he was friends with back in the orphanage. "Heh, well I can't wait to speak with you once again, Daigon."

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CLANG, I barely managed to raise up my sword just in time to parry my opponent's jab. I Noticed that to do his jab, he had overextended himself leaving his left side open. I immediately took advantage of this moment and feinted my attack on the right, as soon as his sword went up to block it; I suddenly jabbed toward the left and impaled him in the chest before he could react. My opponent had a shocked expression on his face as he fell to the ground, and his body disappeared. System Notification: Congratulations to player Nasus Stack God for defeating 10 opponents in a row! Awarded 100 glories and 1 gladiator badge. "Hah, I am the best swordsman gladiator get out of my arena!" Ok, I admit that I'm not the best swordsman and there are plenty of others who are a lot better than me. But, still, just let me have this moment of glory. Getting bored with the game, I opened up the menu and logged out. I took off the Neron Headset and shook my head. I remember when I first got the game a couple of years ago, I would play it all the time trying to master my skills. After a couple of years though it just wasn't that fun anymore. I tried to use different weapons by making other accounts, such as the spear, Great longsword, and other various Cold era weapons. But after using them all there really wasn't any type of weaponry left, and plus seeing an arena type map all the time began to really bore my eyes. I tried standing up and instantly felt pain in my back as I stood up. "Fuck, that hurts!" I cried out. The part that sucked was I would have to deal with this pain every time I stood. I prayed that I would eventually become numb from this pain as time went on. I walked over to my kitchen and popped a frozen meal in the fridge, I simply lacked the energy to make a proper meal. Beep beep, the microwave sounded when it was done heating the meal. It was a simple meal with chicken and macaroni mixed together. I took out my favorite drink from the fridge called Arizona Ice Tea. I don't know why but when I was 13 the caretaker of the orphanage gave this drink to me, and when I tasted it, I instantly became addicted to it. My friend called Chang Zhang also liked the drink as well, that was just a couple of months before he was adopted by a family. Thinking back to that time, it was enjoyable with Chang Zhang, however, when he left the orphanage to become much more empty to me and wasn't the same without him. I opened up the beverage, hearing the pop sound come from the cap can. I usually didn't drink it too much because I did have some self-control, kinda. But, for this occasion, I felt it was justifiable to lessen my pain of the accident. In a way, I treated it like it was alcohol, but hey it's better than drinking the real thing. While I was enjoying my meal, my phone began to buzz on the table, I always had it on silent because I hated dealing with ringtones, I really don't know why. I frowned and wondered who was calling to disturb my meal. Not like I had many friends that I know of, the only person it could possibly be is my landowner or my boss. As I walked over to my phone, I thought it had to be my boss, and that's when I realized I still haven't informed him of what happened. I began to have a conversation in my head about how I was going to inform him about what happened. However, when I glanced at the number, I frowned. It said No Caller ID, I began to think that it probably must be some scammer or illegal shit, something along those lines. I thought of just not answering the call, but for whatever reason or maybe it had to due with the fact that I had nothing left. I still decided to answer the call. "Hello," I asked. "Hey Arizona Ice Tea Lover," a man with a faint Chinese accent answered. Although I had a hopeful sneaking suspicion of who this might be, I still didn't want to get my hopes up and replied saying, "Who is this? How do you know I like that type of beverage?" "Because I think I am your best friend from the orphanage in San Diego,'' the man replied. "No way, is it you Ch-Chung Zhang?", my voice stuttered as I said his name. "Yes way, it's me Chung Zhang, and you are Dagon Crossfield, am I right?",Chung Zhang said. "You certainly are correct my friend, how are you doing!?, I replied excitedly. This was probably the first time in almost a decade that I have gotten this excited, I finally was able to talk to my friend again. "Good, good, hey listen I don't have much time, and I really called to let you in on something,'' he anxiously said. "What's going on, I replied,'' I replied, nervously replied. Normally Chung Zhang never acted this anxious. The only time I saw had ever seen him once get this anxious was when he truthfully told the caretaker that we had broken the fence on accident. Obviously, though, that's when we were young kids. Now that he is an adult, it had to be a lot more serious. "Um, well if ...if I tell you this information you will be sent a contract where if you release the information or tell anyone about it, you'll be killed, as well as the person you told", he nervously said. I couldn't help but wonder what the hell Chung Zhang was a part of if this was what would happen if you revealed this information. "Well, is it like really, really important information?" I said. "Yes," he replied to me. "Like to the point of world-ending type information," I exaggeratedly said. "Yes," he replied in a heavy tone. My mind instantly went blank. I actually didn't think it was that serious, almost as if I was trying to deny I said, "You don't mean that right? You were just kidding, right? I wanted to think he was just joking or playing a prank on me, but Chung Zhang was an intelligent person, and with his personality, he simply just wouldn't say this, if it wasn't true. "No, I'm not kidding this is for real, I'm not trying to fuck around with you," he replied once again in a heavy tone. Him saying that basically confirmed that this was for real and this was really for real. "So, do you want to hear the information?", he said. My mind was racing. If I didn't listen to this, then my life would be in danger, and I wouldn't even know what it is that is putting me in danger. While on the other hand, if I agreed to this, then I would be forced to sign a contract that would once again put my life in danger. No, at least with this information I have a chance to save my life while without it I won't. Plus he's my friend he wouldn't call me if he didn't care about me. "Fine, I'll listen," I quickly replied. I could hear my friend let out what sounded a sigh of relief through the phone. "Well, you that game that just came out called AscendFail Online?", he replied. "Yeah, what about it?" I asked. "Well… that game is going to decide the future of humanity."