The persistent throbbing inside his head felt like a never-ending, aggressive drum roll; constantly beating on the inner side of his head until waking him up. Careful, Bao tried to move up his right arm and as if heavy shackles were removed the now featherlight limb shot up in the air, the fingers spread wide open. He turned and rotated it in order to inspect it thoroughly like it wasn't even his own arm. Surprisingly, against his initial assumptions, not one muscle was aching.

One quick glance at the driver, which was still stuck in his neck, made him realise what had happened the day before. As a reflex, his eyes immediately looked in the direction of a small transparent clock on the roof. A long sigh of relief left his mouth when he realized that the time margin of one hour, written on the instruction manual, had passed and no noticeable symptoms had appeared. It would've been a shame to fall sick before even being able to try out his new purchase, not to mention that he would've needed to explain to his parents why he needed to be hospitalized, Bao thought.

The windows, furniture and the door rushed past him and started spinning in circles like a carousel when he tried to stand up. His trembling legs brought him closer to the desk on which the remaining VR parts lied but just upon reaching his destination he stumbled and fell flat on his face.

"What are you doing up there?! Is everything alright?" His mother screamed up the hallway.

"Everything okay! One of my books just fell down from the shelf, nothing to worry about!"

Reading books. He remembered reading a ton of fantasy and adventure novels during his childhood, in fact, at the time he wouldn't have left the house without at least one good book in his pocket, even if just in digital format. But then, one day, his interests and hobbies shifted towards videogames where he could actively partake in the story. After finishing his studies, Bao failed countless job interviews at several companies even the one his father arranged through the influence of a friend of his. Humiliated and defeated Bao started withdrawing himself from society, despite the desperate attempts of his parents to convince him to apply for one more interview. All contacts of former friends or class members were blocked and deleted, the door to his room was locked and he stopped talking to his family. Bao had completely shut himself off from the real world, his only remaining contact being Ning, the only person in the world who understood his pain and feeling of hopelessness.

Absentminded Bao turned his look at the cable wrapped around his hand. How did it even come this far? Returning back from his short trip in the past, Bao shook his head like he was trying to drive the thoughts away. Hesitant he inserted the cable into the port beneath the table while the other end was put into his neck.

"Welcome to Virtual Life Corporation, I am your assistant Orbisterra. I'll be responsible to guide you through this infinite virtual space, so if you have any questions or problems feel free to call me with my name and I'll be happy to help you to the best of my capabilities." A voice sounded directly into his head

"So this is the Virtual space huh?"

"Yes." The voice answered his rhetorical question.

He found himself in what basically could be called nothingness; a white space with not a single spot of colour and without any end in sight.

"Orbia... Orbis..., dammit who the fuck invented such stupid name?!" -he cursed- "Orbisterra, how do I proceed from now on if I want to play the games available?"

"You should be able to call up all the online games with the command 'show list'." The voice which until now sounded like a real human one lagged, and turned into a robotic monotone one for a brief moment. "Upon calling the command you'll receive a small preview of all the games available including a brief description about the genre and mechanics. Click on the game if you want to play it."

"Show list!" Bao screened into the wide space in front of him.

Small panels, about as wide as his forearm popped up in form of a long gridded list, stretching wide underneath his feet. It took him several hours to choose a game that seemed interesting enough for him to spend at least a week playing it. In absence of a fantasy MMORPG, he picked a sci-fi, PvP shooter which promised space dogfights, exploration of the unknown universe and unknown planets, housing and most important roleplay and an insane vast world without any immersion breaks. In short, for Bao it was the perfect alternative, in this game he would have all the freedom and adventures he could normally only dream to have.