"Hey, Kuro, what are you staring at? Get your butt over here now!"
A sudden loud shout snapped Raymond out of his thoughts and pulled his attention away.
When he looked toward the source of the voice, he saw it was a one-eyed man wearing an eye patch, just like Director Egghead. He was also completely bald.
The only difference was, this guy looked Asian and was speaking Japanese.
Raymond didn't know Japanese, and neither did the original owner of the body he had taken over. But somehow, he could understand everything the bald guy was saying.
Even though the man was clearly yelling "Kuro," Raymond somehow knew he was calling him.
Since he had already experienced body-swapping once—and even got tricked because of it—he quickly thought of a possibility and rushed to a nearby water bucket. He lifted the lid and looked inside.
What he saw was a boy around fifteen or sixteen years old.
Looking closely, it was clearly the younger version of Kuro!
He still had a childish face, wasn't wearing his usual round glasses yet, and even the scar that should have been on his face was missing.
"So this is what 'Immersive Mode' means?" Raymond was shocked by how real everything felt.
If he didn't still clearly remember spending 10 Universal Points to activate this scene, he might've really believed he had time-traveled again.
No doubt, what he was seeing and feeling right now was a simulation created by the system, showing part of Kuro's childhood.
"What are you doing over there?! You itching for a beating?!"
The bald man saw "Kuro" ignoring him and running off to a water bucket, and he instantly shouted again in anger.
"What the hell are you yelling for? I'm not deaf!" Raymond snapped back, getting annoyed.
Seriously? Just a system-created training NPC trying to act like a big shot?
The bald man was furious when "Kuro" dared to talk back. He pulled out a leather whip from his waist and swung it at Raymond from a distance!
With a loud, sharp sound, Raymond let out a painful scream.
"System! Damn you to hell!!!"
That one hit nearly made him cry.
It really, really hurt!
He had never expected this—something like a virtual simulation from a game—to actually include real pain!
At least in virtual games, there's usually an option to adjust the pain level. But this simulation didn't give him any choice—it went straight to full, 100% real pain!
Damn it, this is way too unfair!
While Raymond was silently cursing the system like crazy, a message popped up in his mind at just the right time:
Seeing the bald man about to swing the whip at him again with a cruel grin, Raymond didn't hesitate—he picked Yes immediately!
No joke—if he stayed any longer, that crazy bald guy would whip him half to death.
He wasn't into that kind of pain. No way was he letting himself get tortured. If not now, then when?
The moment he chose to exit, everything around him suddenly froze, like someone hit the pause button.
Even the whip, just inches away from hitting him, was stuck mid-air—less than five centimeters from his body.
The whole scene cracked like glass breaking, and everything started fading away, leaving Raymond in total darkness once more.
Right after that, the familiar feeling of falling came over him…
A few moments later, Raymond suddenly opened his eyes and realized he hadn't moved at all. He was still lying on the soft bed in the teachers' dorm, staring at the ceiling.
He sat up quickly and looked at the spot where the whip had hit him—then remembered that this wasn't even the same body, so of course there were no marks.
But that pain he felt… was still fresh in his mind.
"Full pain simulation in a virtual reality, and that bald guy acted way too real. Doesn't seem like one of those dumb game NPCs who don't react properly…"
Thinking back on what had just happened, Raymond finally calmed down and started to analyze things.
"So this 'Immersive Mode' must mean the system creates a scene from one of my alter egos' pasts. I become them for a while and interact with people from that time, maybe even learn from them…"
"But if I do learn something in there… can I actually bring it back with me into real life?" he wondered, rubbing his chin as he thought through the details of the feature.
Also, he realized he had forgotten to check the time. So now he had no way of knowing whether time passed the same inside the simulation and outside.
"Alright, let's try it again. This time, I won't forget."
Raymond grabbed his phone, placed it beside him, and got ready to hit the timer the moment he started.
After exchanging two Bronze Character Cards, he had 220 exploration points left. He used 10 just now, so he still had 210.
Luckily, each bronze-level virtual reality scene only costs 10 points to activate. Even if he fails a few more times, it's still manageable.
But silver-level scenes? They cost 100 points each—no room for mistakes there.
Lying back down and setting his phone beside him, Raymond hit the timer and once again activated the same scene.
The familiar darkness returned… then the sudden feeling of falling… and soon, the shaky boat, the salty sea air, and that same one-eyed bald guy appeared again!
"Kuro, you little brat! What are you staring at? Get over here right now!"
As expected, the same angry voice shouted at him again.
"Just like I thought. Each activation is like entering a game instance. Even if it's the same scene, it always resets and starts from the beginning." Seeing the familiar surroundings again, Raymond was no longer surprised—in fact, he was excited.
"Alright then… time to follow the story." He made up his mind.
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