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Wendis. Seventeen years old. A senior student at Mingke High School in Hailan City.
A month ago, she had just finished the college entrance examinations, and she now found herself in what might be the most carefree and relaxed period of her entire life.
Because her older brother had always been considered irresponsible in their parents' eyes, the responsibility of inheriting the family business had long been placed on Wendis as the second child.
Her childhood had been filled with endless tutoring sessions.
Private instructors one after another.
Piano.
Violin.
Painting.
Calligraphy.
Born into an extremely wealthy family with parents determined to see their daughter succeed, Wendis had been surrounded by relentless lessons and expectations from the moment she could remember.
Only her strong will had allowed her to survive the crushing academic pressure for over a decade.
Now, after the most important turning point of her academic life the college entrance exam had finally ended, the pure-hearted and resilient girl was granted a rare moment to breathe.
Long ago, Wendis had imagined what this long-awaited vacation might be like.
She wanted to walk arm-in-arm with her best friends through busy shopping streets, browsing until their legs grew sore and they had tried on every outfit in sight.
She wanted to take a spontaneous trip somewhere far away.
Maybe she would play her violin on a street corner, letting its melody drift through the air.
Or sit by a window with a camera, capturing the glow of a sunset as she explores the beauty of the world.
She wanted to attend a concert from beginning to end.
She wanted to bring her easel outside and paint real landscapes.
She wanted to see cherry blossoms beneath Mount Fuji.
Countless beautiful visions of the future had once filled the mind of the girl who had spent years suffocating under academic pressure.
But when she finally walked out of the examination hall after finishing her last foreign-language test a month ago—
All those dreams vanished like drifting spring willow fluff.
She only wanted one thing.
To collapse onto the soft, fragrant bed in her room.
And sleep.
Wendis ended up sleeping for nearly an entire day.
It was as if something inside her had snapped loose.
The pressure that had been compressed inside her for over ten years finally released, and the suppressed nature of the young girl exploded outward as Mentos dropped into soda.
It felt like opening the door to a new world.
She began staying up late every night, exploring the once-forbidden ocean of the internet.
Her behavior quickly became so extreme that even her older brother who worked in the esports industry couldn't ignore it anymore.
With a mixture of concern and affection, he bought her an immersive virtual reality gaming device.
Even though it was still gaming, the device's built-in sleep system would at least allow his adorable younger sister to rest both physically and mentally.
Faced with the countless games available in the system, Wendis felt like a cat wandering through a fish market.
She wanted to try every single one.
But naturally, she had to start somewhere.
If she had to pick one first, she would choose the one that left the best first impression.
And in that moment, the bright yellow electric mouse smiling on the cover of "Pokémon: World" easily caught her attention.
Wendis didn't actually know much about Pokémon.
The only one she really recognized was the adorable mascot her classmates always talked about Pikachu.
But that didn't stop her from loving cute creatures.
With the simple thought of "So cute. I want one.", she entered the game.
After spending over a decade obediently studying under her parents' expectations, Wendis had no intention of strictly following the game's tutorial.
Among gamers, she would probably be classified as the type who logs in just to enjoy the scenery and casually takes care of plants.
Leveling up and becoming stronger weren't important.
Satisfying her curiosity and exploring the world were what truly mattered.
Armed with a starter Pokémon and a few supplies gifted by her brother who happened to be the leader of a large gaming guild Wendis cheerfully skipped straight into the dangerous Jirong Forest, filled with excitement for the unknown.
Perhaps fortune favored fools.
The naïve, golden-haired girl somehow managed to avoid every danger along the way.
Against all odds, she safely wandered deep into the forest—
And arrived directly in front of Kael, who had only recently left the newborn stage.
Kael watched the strange blonde girl with deep confusion.
Then suddenly—
Her next action sent shockwaves through his mind.
Wendis casually reached into the small pouch at her waist.
In the next moment, objects far larger than her entire body began spilling out of the bag and landing neatly on the ground.
A tent.
A barbecue grill.
Firewood.
A reclining chair.
Like a real camping setup, the once-empty clearing filled with equipment in less than a second.
Kael's pupils shrank violently.
His mind went completely blank.
Superpowers?
Aliens?
Doraemon?
Countless absurd possibilities flashed through his thoughts like sparks.
For a moment, he couldn't think at all.
But then—
A sudden realization flashed through his mind like a meteor streaking across the night sky.
In an instant, invisible threads connected the countless mysteries that had been piling up in his mind.
The strange condition of his own body.
The white particles of "data" are drifting from the Magikarp's corpse.
Even the vague system description on his status panel.
Everything.
Suddenly—
It all made sense.
A ridiculous hypothesis formed in his mind.
Yet strangely, it explained everything he had experienced.
Could it be…
That this place wasn't a truly real world like the ones he had lived in before?
But instead—
A virtual world constructed entirely from data?
"No way…"
Hidden in the shadows, Kael's body stiffened.
As unbelievable as the idea was, everything happening before his eyes kept reminding him of one terrifying possibility.
He was inside a game world.
The absurd realization shook him to the core.
He stared at the girl in front of him, thoughts racing through his mind.
"If my guess is correct… then her strange behavior suddenly makes perfect sense."
He looked at the blonde girl again.
A single conclusion slowly formed in his mind.
"She's… a player."
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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For early access to advanced chapters on P-atreon:
P-atreon/iamxeno
(Just remove the - hyphen to access normally)
Thank you so much for your support and for reading!