Chapter 2 – Buying a Helmet

“Hmm? Why are there so many people queuing up over there?” Fatty asked as he strolled around with his sister. When they turned around the corner of the street and towards the plaza, huge queues came into their sights. Wow, there’re quite a few queues with a few hundred people in them!

“Bro, you’re really behind on the news. Today is the launch of the “Eternal” gaming helmet. All of these people are queuing up to buy the helmet,” Qian Xiaoqian looked towards the people queuing up enviously.

“Eternal? What’s that?” Fatty was still a bit confused. It’s probably just a game, I don’t get why they’re so excited.

Many passersby threw a look of disdain towards Fatty at his question.

Qian Xiaoqian blushed in embarrassment, “Look at you, all you do is sleep and eat. You never pay attention to the news! Eternal is a game developed by Star Fantasia, the number one gaming company in the country. It’s been in development for the last dozen-odd years. Simply said, it’s a full immersion virtual reality game, meaning that the players are able to play the game exactly the same way as we act normally. No keyboards, mice or any other controllers will be needed!”

“Ahh okay,” Fatty nodded perfunctorily. Virtual reality game? That has nothing to do with Lord Fatty!

“Apparently Eternal’s also linked to the players’ bank accounts and in-game gold can be converted to real money. Those pro-gamers are so lucky. They’ll be able to easily earn money doing what they love!” Seeing Fatty’s disinterest, Qian Xiaoqian immediately used her own proven method of gaining her brother’s interest.

“What? The game currency can be exchanged into real life money?” Fatty was very shocked. He quickly moved his hands up his arm as if he was rolling up his sleeves. “Then what are we waiting for? F*ck, they’re actually queuing up to snatch my money. Watch how Lord Fatty deals with you guys.”

“Bro, you are really going to buy it?” Qian Xiaoqian asked in surprise.

“Of course, I, your older brother, have waited for this day for too long. I even quit my job for this,” Fatty answered shamelessly. “C’mon, let’s go and buy the helmets. We’ll get one each.”

“But, Bro, the helmets are really expensive,” Qian Xiaoqian was excited for a slight moment before she hesitated once again.

“Expensive? How expensive?” Fatty immediately stopped in his tracks.

“The normal helmet already cost three thousand,” Qian Xiaoqian lowered her head.

“What? So expensive!?” Fatty choked.

“That’s just the normal one. The intermediate one requires ten thousand, and the high-class one requires a hundred thousand,” Qian Xiaoqian said enviously. This truly is a game for rich people.

“The difference is so huge? What are the differences in the versions?” Fatty was stunned. It was rather normal for him to be stunned though, because he’s never even played any other video games, so there was no way that he actually understood the reasons behind it.

“The fidelity level is different. Fidelity refers to how real it is, it can also be interpreted as sensitivity. The higher the level of fidelity, the more sensitive your character is in-game. It is just like how some people have a naturally high stamina, allowing them to gain benefits over others no matter what they do. The fidelity of a normal helmet is only eighty-five percent. The high-class one is up to ninety percent. Apparently, the super deluxe ones have a fidelity of ninety-nine percent, but those are priceless and nobody is willing to sell them. Not only that, there are barely a few in the entire world,” Qian Xiaoqian had explained in a lot of detail because she knew Fatty was a complete noob in terms of gaming.

“Do you really want to play?” Fatty asked her.

“Yes,” Qian Xiaoqian said quietly after hesitating for a long time. She understood the problems of her older brother, who raised and grew up with her, had. So, right after saying that she did want to, she immediately added. “But I’m rather busy studying and don’t have much time to play, so I’m not going to get it.”

“Oh, if you do want to play, then it’s fine. We’ll take the high-class ones,” Fatty said casually, then dragged Qian Xiaoqian forward.

“Bro, the high-class helmets costs a hundred thousand,” Qian Xiaoqian thought that Fatty didn’t hear her properly earlier, so she quickly tried to pull Fatty back.

“I know, isn’t it just a hundred thousand? Your brother’s got the money, don’t worry,” Fatty said, then dragged Qian Xiaoqian into Star Fantasia’s service hall.

“Ai, sir, please queue up at the end of the line,” one of the clerks immediately stopped Fatty when she saw that he was trying to force his way in.

“I’m going to buy the high-class helmet. High-class helmet, you hear that? Buying a high-class helmet costs a hundred thousand, so you should give me some bonus, right? Do I really have to queue up like everyone else?” Fatty asked the lady aggressively.

“Sir, about this, we have no such rules,” the clerk was a bit speechless. How can someone really be like this?

“There wasn’t before, but there is now,” Fatty bumped the clerk away with his butt, then pulled Qian Xiaoqian in.

“Ahh, sir…” the clerk tried to stop him once again, but the manager had already walked over.

“What’s going on here?”

“This gentleman said that he wants to buy a high-class helmet, so he wants a bonus of not having to queue up with the others,” the clerk hurriedly said.

“Mm, that certainly makes sense,” the manager thought about it, then nodded in agreement. “A high-class helmet costs a hundred thousand, so we should give him a bit of a promotion. Take this gentleman and this lady over to finish their procedures.”

“Sir, Ma’am, please come this way,” the clerk quickly took Fatty and Qian Xiaoqian over to the side and helped them complete the purchasing procedures personally.

On the other hand…

“What’s going on? Why didn’t they need to queue up?” the people in the queue outside immediately grew annoyed and started up a ruckus when they saw Fatty squeeze in so aggressively.

“If you guys want to spend a hundred thousand to buy a high-class helmet, then I’ll let you guys queue-jump as well,” the manager shouted confidently, causing all the objections to immediately stop, leaving only a few people muttering their dissatisfaction.

“Shit,” when Fatty finished buying the helmets, he began to walk out with two boxes in his hands. When he arrived at the entrance and saw the annoyed gazes of the people glaring at him, he cockily held up his right hand and flipped the haters the middle finger.

“F*ck, beat him up,” a person who had been in the queue since the previous night, and had been in line for an entire night and an entire morning to get to the entrance was enraged. He shouted out, then directly charged towards Fatty.

“Beat him up!” Countless voices rang out together. The sound was so loud that it almost toppled Star Fantasia’s service hall.

“Beat him up!”

The shouts rang out like thunder, and even people several thousand meters away were completely shocked by the sudden voice. What’s more, it even resulted in immeasurable losses.

According to an investigation, a thirty-four years old driver was freaked out by the shouts, which made him to turn the steering wheel the wrong way, causing a traffic accident; a hundred something children were also asking to get spoiled by their parents, but the sudden shouts caused them to immediately become obedient without uttering a sound; a total of twelve pairs of couple performing coitus in the middle of the day were also stunned by the loud shouts, which resulted in a certain male organ having a spasm, forcing these couples to have to seek help at the local hospital.

All in all, the loud roars made it onto various media, and was even recorded down as the number one sound in the city for a hundred years, allowing it to be permanently recorded down in history.

Yet, Fatty, the very one who caused all this, had to run around with great difficulty in order to avoid getting beaten up.