I Have a Mansion in the Post-apocalyptic World

“Achooo!”

Jiang Chen sneezed right after he took off the helmet, muttering to himself.

“Who is cursing at me?”

He just logged onto the Godly Land and experienced the virtual reality MMORPG designed by Future Technology.

During his high school and university time, Jiang Chen was like most students and was considered half an “addicted gamer”. Because he didn’t have a girlfriend, he would spend most of the time during his free time to play premade with his roommates. He imagined back then what would the virtual reality game described in the novels be like if he was fortunate enough to experience it one day. He had the fantasy before that he would be like the protagonist in a novel that encountered a unique NPC to become the only hidden class in the server, beat the Tall, Rich and Handsome, and win over the Graceful, Wealthy and Beautiful (2), to become the winner in life…

But he was quick to realize it is a fantasy since those people don’t need to prove themselves in the game.

Unless they were particularly lonely.

But in his imagination, there was one thing he didn’t imagine, that was that the game would be published by him. And right now, he was the person that flipped the new chapter in virtual reality.

But in his current position, he didn’t have too much interest in playing the game.

But he still created a Knight and took a tour in his game. He looked at the crowded village, observed people’s excitement to the new world and fulfilled a dream he had in the past.

After he went offline, he put his helmet aside and went on to the Internet.

Just like he suspected, the Internet was filled by the keywords “Future Technology” and “Godly Land”. Before the official launch, the media raved about the era-defining MMORPG. The popularity on the first day didn’t surprise him too much, it was only a commitment fulfilled for the tale he described to the media and settled the crown that rested on Future Technology’s head.

He opened a renowned international gaming forum and saw that the top place on the forum was Godly Land.

“God, I have never seen such a realistic and immersive game! Goodbye Gaben, I have removed Steam from my hard drive. It’s going to be a while before I have any interest in the small games on consoles and PCs.”

“It’s hard to believe the realistic phase traveling feeling, I feel like I went to another world!”

“Negative! You can’t create a female character! Remove the gender recognition tool!”

“Are the NPCs artificial intelligence? I heard there would be an 18+ DLC that allows you to do intimate activities with the NPCs? I think I’m in love with the New Player Guide. XD”

“I think you may be sent to prison for flipping up a girl’s skirt, who knows how long you will be locked in for?!”

“…”

A curvature appeared on Jiang Chen’s mouth after reading through the comments.

The market gave the game an incredibly high rating. By the looks of it, there was no need to adjust the production of the helmets. With the popularity in the market, there was no problem selling 100 million more units.

But to ensure that the market won’t be over flooded, it was better to control the units released to 20 million per month.

…

In the few days, Jiang Chen maintained a nine-to-five schedule to appear in the top floor office at the Future Building. Most of the time he didn’t do any work and only strategized the development of the time, and then acted as a supervisor once in a while to call the managers up to check on their work. The routine schedule was new to Jiang Chen.

But with Chinese New Year’s Eve on the horizon, the short but fascinating life came to a conclusion.

Because of the multitude of reasons last year, Jiang Chen didn’t get to spend time with his parents over the holiday but rather spent the New Year in the apocalypse. But since his parents were with him this year and he didn’t have as much trouble as last year, he obviously wouldn’t give up the opportunity to spend New Year with his parents.

Although it would make Sun Jiao and the girls feel a bit disappointed, Jiang Chen was still planning to spend New Year in the modern world.

Speaking of New Year, something funny happened with Ayesha. Because she misinterpreted “Chinese New Year” as “Christmas”, to give Jiang Chen a surprise, the girl decorated the house with Christmas trees, bells, and ribbons. She also wore a short red dress and cosplayed a Christmas girl.

In the end, it was Xia Shiyu that fixed her mistake. She helped Ayesha put away the decorations and returned the mansion to New Year’s decoration and gave her a wiki on normally you would spend New Year with your parents and not at your own place.

The night of New Year’s Eve, Jiang Chen took Ayesha to his parents’ place.

Because they lived close by, he would occasionally have dinner with his parents. Therefore he kept a copy of the key to his parents’ mansion. After he parked the car in the garage, he went in holding Ayesha’s hand.

When Jiang Chen walked in, the two elders were preparing dinner.

The caretakers responsible were also given holidays. Therefore it was just the two elders living there.

From the start, Jiang Chen’s thoughts were hiring a chef to prepare the dinner. But Mama Jiang said New Year’s dinner should be prepared by themselves. Therefore, he followed his parents’ thought and helped them along with Ayesha to cook a delicious meal.

Everything was good with Xin, just that there were not a lot of friends and families. There were no fireworks, there won’t ever be snow.

As to the Spring Festival Gala broadcasted every year, there was that. Xin could watch the channel in Han, but just like the Gala from last year, the Gala was full of criticism. But no one really minded the content of the show, since, at this time, it was not what was on the TV, but who you were watching the show with.

When they were halfway through dinner, someone knocked on the door.

When Jiang Chen opened the door, he was surprised to see Xia Shiyu holding onto a gift while standing reservedly at the door.

When she met Jiang Chen’s eyes, she immediately looked away.

He didn’t know if the faint red hue on her face was due to him or due to the happiness of celebrating the holiday season.

“It was my mom that made me come and say… Happy New Year,” Standing at the door, Xia Shiyu said in a whisper.

“It’s the daughter of Old Xia, haha, come in!” Jiang Chen couldn’t say anything before he heard his dad’s loud voice.

It was hard to meet a friend in a foreign country. Since Xia Shiyu and her parents moved over, the two families were particularly close as they constantly visited each other. Papa Xia and Jiang Jianguo were also fishing buddies. When the weather was nice, they would always go fishing together on a boat. Because of this, Jiang Chen’s dinner always had a familiar seafood smell.

Jiang Chen could bring some fish once in a while back to the apocalypse to enjoy the freshness of the sea with Sun Jiao.

Jiang Chen’s mom warmly dragged Xia Shiyu to the dinner table and constantly put dishes in her bowl. Although she said that she ate already, she couldn’t resist Mama Jiang’s energy and tried a few dishes. Jiang Chen pretended not to see his dad’s ambiguous look.

The kiss at the end of the year ball seemed to have caused a big shock to Xia Shiyu as her attitude toward him had been wavering between a fine line. Although she was not purposely avoiding him, Jiang Chen had a feeling that she didn’t know how to face him.

But in the holiday atmosphere, the shyness quickly faded into happiness.

The dinner dragged on till 12 at night. Jiang Jianguo who had some alcohol was already snoring on the sofa.

When Xia Shiyu went to the washroom, Mama Jiang dragged Jiang Chen to the side at looked at his son with an interrogating vibe. “Why do I have the feeling that something is going on between you and Xia Shiyu. Tell me who is our family’s future daughter-in-law? I don’t care how much money you make outside, when will I have grandchildren?”

Jiang Chen stuttered at his mom’s interrogation and didn’t know how to respond to the complicated problem. It was the understanding Ayesha that helped him out during these situations.

It was a hard question for him to answer.

Ignore the uncertainty in the modern world, there was a few more in the apocalypse…

One thing that was certain was that if his mom really wanted grandchildren, she probably wouldn’t have the energy to tend to them all…

(1) Tall, Rich, and Handsome – A popular term describing attractive, successful men (2) Graceful, Wealthy, and Beautiful – A popular term describing attractive, pretty women