Apocalypse Mode: My Cheat Code Virtual Boyfriend - Chapter 3

June 23rd, 6:32 AM, Rain.

The torrential downpour had continued relentlessly through the night. Most streets were flooded with ankle-deep water, and shops in lower-lying areas had suffered from backflow, leaving one to wonder how much economic loss the store owners would face.

Inside the self-built house in the Bai family’s urban village, all was quiet. On this morning of pouring rain, everyone remained tucked in their warm, comfortable beds, with no one willing to get up at this hour.

Bai Xun tossed in his sleep but couldn’t turn over.

He was pinned down by something heavy, his brows and eyes twitching as he began to stir awake.

Struggling against the suffocating, ghostly pressure, Bai Xun finally opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was a pair of fluffy, gray-edged white ears.

No wonder it felt so heavy, someone had rested their head on his chest.

Still groggy from sleep, Bai Xun hadn’t yet registered the strangeness of having someone else in his bed. He pushed the person away, rolled over, and pulled the blanket tighter, settling back into a deep sleep.

One second, two seconds.

Bai Xun suddenly threw off the blanket and bolted upright.

Why was there someone else in his bed?! How did a thief even get into the house?!

Clutching the blanket to his chest like a maiden violated by a scoundrel, Bai Xun frantically slapped the man on the bed. “Who are you?! How did you get in here?!”

Cheng Wei was jolted awake by the barrage of slaps. He sat up drowsily, his eyes half-closed, and reached out to hug Bai Xun. “Husband, let’s sleep a little longer. It’s still early.”

“Who the hell is your husband?! Who are you?! If you’re here to steal, why are you sleeping in my bed?!”

Bai Xun pushed him away in panic, fumbling for the bedside lamp. Finally, he got a clear look at the man who had suddenly appeared in his bed.

He was a young man so stunning it left one speechless.

His features were exceptionally striking. Though his eyes drooped with sleepiness and his long lashes fluttered slowly, the commanding presence that made one want to submit remained undiminished.

His skin was pale, his nose straight and elegant, and his lips were a delicate, watery red, inexplicably reminding Bai Xun of red prayer flags fluttering in the wind atop snow-covered plateaus.

He didn’t look very old either, his face bore the sharp angles of youth yet retained a boyish innocence, like a wild little leopard roaming the wilderness.

But what drew attention wasn’t just his face.

Why are your pectoral muscles so impressively developed?!

If not for those chest muscles, some of my finest qualities, my physique, my appearance, even my soul, would be utterly ruined.

These are truly magnificent pecs!

A sharp slap echoed through the room.

Bai Xun slapped himself, heartbroken. Get a grip! Is this really the time to be captivated by good looks?!

The world might be falling apart here!

The slap finally jolted Cheng Wei fully awake. Struggling to keep his drowsy, tear-glazed eyes open, he grabbed Bai Xun’s hand and pressed it against his own cheek. “Does your hand hurt…?”

By now, Bai Xun had recognized Cheng Wei as the virtual boyfriend he had personally designed, a paper-thin character tailored entirely to his aesthetic preferences. For him to appear here meant either Bai Xun had lost his mind or the world had gone mad.

This was definitely not normal.

Alarm bells rang loudly in Bai Xun’s mind. In the face of crisis, resisting temptation started with himself.

He fought to keep his eyes from wandering downward and reached out to pull Cheng Wei’s collar back into place. “What’s going on? How did you end up here?”

Cheng Wei shook his furry ears and yawned: “I don’t know either. Somehow, I suddenly appeared here last night. Hubby, why don’t you seem happy to see me? You even touched my pecs last night…”

As if to prove his point, he puffed out his chest.

Touch? Touch where? When? Could it have been during all that random clicking with his mouse last night? This… this… the game is a game, reality is reality, he may have the desire, but not the guts!

Bai Xun’s face flushed bright red, and he shakily raised a hand: “Stop! Don’t call me hubby. Touching your pecs was my fault. I’ll definitely draw a clear line from now on and not get lost in male charms… I apologize. Wait, don’t change the subject. Do you know what’s going on with the apocalypse?”

He tried to gather useful clues from Cheng Wei, who had suddenly appeared.

Cheng Wei shook his head gently and opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by a sudden anomaly.

A fluorescent blue rectangular panel slowly rose before them, while a gender-neutral, mechanical voice echoed in Bai Xun’s ears: “Beep… Star Game System activated… Bound user: Bai Xun… Zzz… Zzzzt…”

“Did you hear that too?” Bai Xun asked stiffly, turning to Cheng Wei to confirm the voice in his ears.

“I can’t hear it. But I can see it, there’s a fluorescent blue rectangular panel in front of you, right here. I can’t make out the content clearly; in my vision, it’s just a flowing mess of garbled code.” Cheng Wei’s expression remained unchanged as he lightly tapped the panel through the air.

This gave Bai Xun some comfort. He turned back to examine the panel, whose content was clear only to him.

The voice he had just heard told him this panel was called the Star Game System. The gaming platform he often downloaded games from was also named Star. Even more coincidentally, the games displayed on this panel were all ones he had played for over 300 hours and unlocked all achievements for.

These games were neatly arranged in rectangular blocks the size of playing cards. Only the first one, Virtual Boyfriend, was in color; the rest of the game pages were grayed out.

Bai Xun tentatively reached out and randomly tapped one of the grayed-out game pages. Instantly, a prompt popped up on the game panel: 【Game unlock condition not met: Crystal Cone (0/1), specific unlock condition not triggered (0/1)】. Confirm to close: 【Yes/No】.

He moved his finger and tapped “Yes.” The page closed.

Without needing to check the other grayed-out pages, he knew they would all show the same unmet unlock conditions.

Bai Xun shifted his gaze to the only colored page.

It was an exquisitely detailed card illustration. In the card, Cheng Wei smiled as he gazed forward, with snow-capped mountain ridges stretching behind him. Colorful prayer flags interspersed with half of the azure sky. The page wasn’t static, Cheng Wei’s hair, falling over his shoulders, and the prayer flags fluttered in the wind.

He tapped the illustration, and the next moment, he was redirected to the game description page.

[Game Name: Virtual Boyfriend]

[Game Status: Unlocked (3/5)]

[Character Cards]

Bai Xun frowned. In his understanding of the virtual boyfriend game, it was a beautifully crafted romance game with extensive text data, high freedom, and diverse storylines. However, no matter how outstanding it was, it remained just a romance game. What would the Star Game System transform it into?

With this question in mind, he first opened the [Game Status].

[Unlocked: Beast Form Transformation (1/1)]

[Description: Unlocked by Achievement I “Oh My God, How Did You Turn into a Giant Snow Leopard.” The character Cheng Wei can freely switch between beast and human forms. In snow leopard form, his senses become significantly sharper.]

[Unlocked: 100% Affection]

[Description: Unlocked by Achievement V “I Am Willing to Become Your Most Loyal Lover.” The affection Cheng Wei feels for Bai Xun is rated at 100 points. While 100 is the system’s maximum rating, it is not the upper limit of Cheng Wei’s affection. Cheng Wei will remain 100% loyal to Bai Xun and fulfill all his requests.]

[Unlocked: Telepathy]

[Description: Unlocked by Achievement VII “I Had a Premonition You Would Be in Danger.” When Bai Xun encounters danger, Cheng Wei will sense it immediately through telepathy and rush to his rescue. Note: Telepathy is a one-way crisis alert and does not involve mind-reading.]

[Locked: Mountain Guide (0/1)]

[Hint: Unlocked in specific locations.]

[Locked: Power Advancement (0/3)]

[Hint: Unlocks over time. Stage I countdown: 143 minutes and 26 seconds.]

After reading through the interface, Bai Xun couldn’t help but look up at Cheng Wei, who tilted his head and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Bai Xun replied with mixed emotions, “Nothing.”

He thought to himself how unfair this was for Cheng Wei, suddenly taken from his own world to an unfamiliar environment, with nothing to his name and only a fabricated “lover” as his sole connection.

The Star Game System had effectively turned the virtual boyfriend game into an incredibly lethal and useful tool.

With these complicated feelings, Bai Xun opened the [Character Card].

It was a brief character profile.

[Character Name: Cheng Wei]

[Occupation: Mountain Guide]

[Height: 193 cm]

[Weight: 85.2 kg]

[Affection Level: ???/100]

[Strength: 98]

[Speed: 145]

[Intelligence: 103]

[Willpower: 108]

[Charm: 100]

[Wilderness Survival: 153]

[Extreme Sports: 145]

[Return to Game System: No]

The character card was surprisingly brief, so brief that Bai Xun felt a bit puzzled. He couldn’t help but wonder: Is that it?

Indeed, that was all.

Moreover, the final option on the card, “Return to Game System,” could only be set to “No.” This meant Cheng Wei would remain in the real world indefinitely, existing as long as the Star Game System persisted.

Closing the virtual boyfriend interface, Bai Xun scrolled through the remaining locked games to take stock.

There were seven locked games in total: Wilderness Hunter, Potion Expert, Four Seasons Farm, Pet Home, Ocean Ark, Kitchen Simulator, Renovation Master, and Thief Simulator. It was still unclear how the Star Game System would modify them.

Aside from Wilderness Hunter, which involved firearms and hunting and thus had lethal potential, and Thief Simulator, which revolved around stealing, the rest could be categorized as production, crafting, or life-simulation games.

Bai Xun tallied up the unlocking requirements for each game.

Pet Home and Kitchen Simulator required 1 crystal cone to unlock, with no specific conditions needed.

Wilderness Hunter and Thief Simulator required 2 crystal cones to unlock, with no specific conditions needed.

Four Seasons Farm required 3 crystal cones to unlock, with no specific conditions needed.

Ocean Ark and Renovation Master required 1 crystal cone and needed to trigger a specific unlocking condition (0/1).

Potion Expert required 2 crystal cones and needed to trigger a specific unlocking condition (0/3).

Bai Xun searched through every corner of the game system panel but couldn’t find any instruction manual. He had no way of knowing what the crystal cones used for unlocking were or what the specific unlocking conditions entailed.

Unable to figure it out, he shifted his thoughts to why he had inexplicably gained this golden finger.

Bai Xun had heard the saying that heroes emerge in troubled times. By the same logic, he realized that obtaining the Star Game System wasn’t because he was destined to be a unique protagonist, but because the world was about to descend into chaos, and the heavens were sending him a survival package in advance.

The contents of the 404 Doomsday post resurfaced in his mind. The world was definitely going to fall into chaos, and he needed to find time to hold a family meeting to discuss how to survive this crisis.

Closing the Star Game System panel, Bai Xun turned his gaze toward Cheng Wei, who couldn’t be retrieved. This was another pressing problem he currently faced.

He pondered how to bring Cheng Wei before his family, unaware that a crisis was quietly brewing outside the Bai family’s self-built house. A dark shadow lurked in the curtain of rain, watching them intently. Its rapidly mutating genes fueled its growth while leaving it ravenous.

And human flesh and blood were the best nourishment.