???: "Working late again?"
???: "Same as usual. Barely make any cash from this crappy job, and it's exhausting..."
???: "Yeah... we're all in the same boat."
(After a quick exchange with his roommates, Shang dragged his tired body back to his room.)
(It was already past 2 AM, and this month, he'd been getting home at this time almost every day.)
(The relentless grind was taking a toll on him.)
(Normally, Shang would collapse onto his bed as soon as he got home, but tonight was different for some reason.)
(Even though his body was worn out, he wasn't the least bit sleepy.)
(He aimlessly scrolled through his phone but quickly grew bored.)
(So, he got up and turned on his computer.)
(His desktop was cluttered with game icons, but none caught his interest-he was burned out on all of them.)
Shang: "Forget it, I'll just go to bed..."
(Just as he was about to shut down his PC, something in the corner of his screen caught his eye.)
(It was a pixelated dirt block icon.)
(Above it, in bold letters: Minecraft.)
(The sight of that icon made Shang's heart skip a beat.)
(Minecraft was more than just a game to him-it was his youth, his childhood companion for eight long years.)
(The first game Shang ever played on a computer was Minecraft.)
(This simple sandbox game had brought him endless joy.)
(As the saying goes.)
{"Once you step into the world of Minecraft, there's no turning back."}
(And indeed, he had been hooked ever since.)
(Eight years had passed in the blink of an eye, and yet, even after all that time, Shang never grew tired of it.)
(There was always something new to explore in Minecraft.)
(There were intricate redstone mechanisms waiting to be mastered.)
(Endless mods offering wild, unpredictable experiences.)
(Countless grand structures to build from scratch.)
(Minecraft was a world without limits-a place where you could play however you wanted.)
(You could be an adventurer, traveling through breathtaking landscapes.)
(You could be an explorer, taking on the bizarre monsters in various mods.)
(You could be a farmer, surrounded by crops and animals every day.)
(You could even be an architect, painstakingly recreating something as monumental as the Great Wall, block by block.)
(Or, if you had the skills, you could become a redstone engineer, building circuits so complex that making an in-game computer wouldn't be out of the question.)
(What set Minecraft apart from other games was its infinite nature.)
(There was no final goal, no credits to roll-just endless possibilities for as long as you wanted to stay in the world.)
(That's why most players, like Shang, found themselves playing for years on end.)
(It was a personal, endlessly customizable universe.)
(For Shang, who had spent eight years in the game, Minecraft was filled with cherished memories.)
(Over time, as his friends grew older, got married, and became fathers, they slowly left the game behind.)
(Shang had watched them all log off one by one, until eventually, he too stepped away from his beloved world.)
(Though his work schedule kept him from playing anymore, the Minecraft icon had always remained on his desktop.)
(It had been about two years since his last login.)
Shang: "It's been so long... Maybe I'll check out my old save..."
(After a quick update, Shang finally logged into the game.)
(He loaded up his old save and wandered through the familiar world.)
(It was just as he remembered.)
Shang: "This janky stilt house took us a whole month to build? Man, we were so bad back then... The sheep still haven't regrown their wool? And these villagers? Still the same rip-off merchants as ever!"
(As Shang strolled through the world, nostalgia hit him hard.)
(Each building, every landscape, was brimming with memories.)
(Just as he was lost in thought, something caught his eye-a shadow flickered in the mineshaft.)
(At first, Shang thought it might be one of his friends logging in to surprise him.)
(He instinctively glanced at the bottom left corner of the screen, but there were no notifications of new players joining.)
Shang: "Huh? Did I imagine that?"
(Curious, Shang moved deeper into the mineshaft to investigate.)
(As he got closer, he saw a player character standing there, facing away from him.)
(Though he couldn't see the person's face, the classic Steve skin was unmistakable.)
Shang: "Could it be Noah?"
(Of his group of friends, only Noah ever stuck with the default Steve skin.)
(Shang was just about to message him when, out of nowhere, the player disappeared.)
Shang: "Did they log out?"
(Confused, Shang blinked at the screen.)
(Then, without warning, a face appeared.)
(It was Steve's face, but his eyes were glowing with an intense white light.)
(This figure was burned into the memory of every Minecraft player-the infamous HIM, the demon king of the game.)
(Those eerie white eyes, paired with the classic Steve skin, could only mean one thing.)
Shang: "Holy crap?! HIM?!!"
(Shang nearly jumped out of his seat.)
(The sight of HIM's face sent shivers down his spine.)
(And in the very next moment, the screen went black.)
(Before Shang could process what happened, everything went dark.)
(He had no idea how much time had passed when he suddenly heard voices murmuring nearby.)
???: "I've been playing this game for a week, and these mobs still scare the hell out of me. Full-immersion mode is something else, man!"
???: "No kidding! Minecraft took more than a decade to develop, and on launch day, it hit a billion players!"
???: "It's fun, but at night? Man, it's terrifying. Mobs everywhere-can't get anything done!"
???: "True, but you gotta admit, that 'dig-three, build-one' trick still works like a charm. We'd be dead without it!"
???: "Shh... keep it down. There are mobs all over the place."
(Hearing the chatter around him, Shang slowly opened his eyes, only to find himself lying in the middle of a grassy field.)
(It was nighttime, but the sky was clear, and the bright moon provided decent visibility.)
Shang: "Where the hell am I?!"
(Shang jolted upright, instinctively patting his waist to make sure everything was still intact.)
(Once he confirmed that, he let out a sigh of relief.)
(But that relief was short-lived.)
Shang: "Oh, hell no-what?! Zombies?!"
(In the distance, a group of decaying, foul-smelling zombies had spotted him and were now shambling towards him with arms outstretched.)
(Shang's mind went blank.)
Shang: "Who am I? Where am I?! Why are there zombies?! Is this a dream?!"
(He pinched his thigh hard enough to bring tears to his eyes.)
(Only then did Shang realize that this was no dream.)
[To Be Continued...]