The Fourth Disaster Begins at the Dawn of the Millennium

The Fourth Disaster Begins at the Dawn of the Millennium Author: Linden Tu

Chapter 1: Sneaking into doors and picking locks is our daily routine as players

The moonlight shines through the sparse clouds onto the ground, covering the entire community with a hazy silver glow. Tall maple trees are planted on both sides of the road in the villa area where the rich gather. The leaves rustle in the light night breeze. Occasionally, a few nocturnal animals shuttle through the grass, and there are also the sounds of yawning security guards while patrolling. Apart from this, there is almost no other movement. Everyone in the community has fallen into a deep sleep, and everything seems so quiet and peaceful.

However, if nothing unexpected had happened to this villa area, there would have been no subsequent story.

In front of a luxurious villa at the end of the villa area, several dark shadows were approaching quietly.

They were dressed like typical petty thieves, wearing gloves, loose black or dark blue hoodies, loose jeans, and the most ordinary sneakers. Everyone carried a small shoulder backpack or cross-body bag, and their faces were covered with black hoods, revealing only a pair of eyes that didn't look very smart. However, their movements were very light, and they walked quickly in a half-squatting and extremely twisted posture, making almost no sound at all, as if they were gliding silently in the night like ghosts.

The leading thief carefully inserted the tool into the keyhole, gently turned his wrist, and felt every subtle change in the lock core. But at this moment, the other thieves noticed the security guard approaching from a distance. The thieves communicated with each other with just a few glances. How did they do it?

Because at the same time, in a university dormitory, among the four people playing the game, three of them were urging Ji Tianping, who was operating the lock picking character:

"Brother, this is just a novice mission!"

"Shit, the lock hasn't been opened yet? Did you choose the wrong specialization at the beginning?"

"The security is coming! Hurry up, hurry up!"

Ji Tianping: "Fuck, why are you rushing me? I'm coming! Cao Boyuan, didn't you calculate the time it takes for the security guard to go around in circles? He shouldn't be here so soon!"

Cao Boyuan: "Who knows, maybe the security guard wanted to make one last round, so he took a shortcut?"

Ji Tianping: "What? You didn't calculate when they would take over?"

Cao Boyuan: "I've got it, theoretically there are still a few minutes left. I didn't expect the security guards in this game to slack off???"

The door lock of the villa finally made a slight "click" sound, and the door was opened silently. Several people quickly flashed into the villa, and then carefully entered the villa, ending the thrilling lock picking session before the security guard discovered the abnormal situation. The villa was pitch black, with only moonlight pouring in through the window, and some outlines could be barely seen. It was like a fucking haunted house. In desperation, the four people in the dormitory had to switch to the game settings and turn the game brightness to the highest level, so that they could barely see clearly.

The four thieves crawled around in the dark and soon came to the living room of the villa, where a piano and several expensive furniture were placed. Ji Tianping controlled his character to get close to those big items, wanting to see if he could put these "big items" into the player character's "different-dimensional pocket", but unfortunately, the system reminded him that this was not allowed. If he wanted to take these big items away, he could only let the character run with it.

It would be really stupid if the four of them just ran away with four expensive pieces of furniture...

Of course, Ji Tianping's attempt to move furniture was not particularly stupid among the four people in the dormitory, because they also had a roommate named Liang Ruikun, who controlled the game character to come to the restaurant and was putting things like dinner plates into the "extra-dimensional pocket". He was very happy to say to his roommate: "It's good to steal this thing, it seems to be a silver dinner plate, it's worth some money."

"Can't we just take the money, a watch or a gold bar? There's only so much that can be stuffed into that pocket..."

If they want to touch something valuable, they have to enter a more private room such as the bedroom, which is undoubtedly more dangerous. For example, it will wake up the owner of the house, but... Ji Tianping and the others have also prepared a method of "physical hypnosis" for the owner of the house.

Ji Tianping and his companions came to the bedroom of the owner of the house and quickly locked a safe in the corner. A man and a woman were sleeping soundly on the bed, which gave Ji Tianping an opportunity. He controlled the game character to walk to the safe and began to study the combination lock, but the combination lock of this safe was obviously much more complicated than the door lock. Ji Tianping's game character was busy in front of the safe for a while, but the safe did not make a pleasant slight "click" sound.

Suddenly, there was a loud thunder. Who knew that the weather would change so quickly? A sudden rainstorm sounded with thunder. Coincidentally, the thunder woke up a man and a woman in the room. When they turned on the light of the bedside table with sleepy eyes, they were so frightened by the situation in the room that they dared not move for a long time.

Three strange men surrounded their bed. One of them pulled out a gun and pointed it at the man and woman on the bed. He put a finger to his mouth and asked them to be quiet. The man and woman watched someone threaten them with a gun while another man squatted on the ground and pried open the lock of the safe.

"Damn it, let these two tell me the password to the safe. I'm tired of prying into it."

"How do I tell him, oh, there is a dialogue option, let me make a threat."

The gun in Cao Boyuan's hand suddenly pointed at the head of one of the two people on the bed, at zero distance. Then he greeted the unlucky guy on the bed with the word "Fuck" and forced him to tell him the secret of the safe.

"click"

The safe was opened, and the things inside made Ji Tianping and his friends very satisfied. Cash, jewelry, watches, gold bars, these are all valuable things. There are also some CDs, documents, bank passbooks and real estate certificates, which are not easy for thieves to take. Should they take the bank passbook to the bank to withdraw money during the day? Or take the real estate certificate to sell this big villa? Isn't that walking into a trap?

The couple on the bed also showed great cooperation, and were "unmoved" by the thieves' large collection of valuables, which made Cao Boyuan feel that there was no need to keep pointing the gun at their heads, so he pulled the gun back a little. Until Ji Tianping, out of curiosity, took out the somewhat shabby document and looked it up.

At this time, on the computer screens of Ji Tianping and the other three, the daily task displayed in white font was "Fundraising for our cause in a proper way (Team up to obtain items worth US$10000 10000/) has been completed." Then, an orange rare task "Returning the property to its original owner" was triggered.

A few seconds later, the game characters controlled by Cao Boyuan and Liang Ruikun pointed their guns at the heads of a man and a woman on the bed. The game character controlled by Ji Tianping looked at the document in his hand, then looked at the man and woman on the bed, and said, "When it comes to stealing wealth, people like you are the best. We admit defeat. This is the resettlement fee for hundreds of families. You really deserve to die..."

Chapter 2: Northeastern Dartgun

After Ji Tianping and his four companions succeeded, they rushed out of the villa and quickly jumped into the car waiting outside the villa area. The teammates who were in the same class but not in the same dormitory stepped on the accelerator while controlling the game characters. The car made a roar and quickly drove away from the villa area. The driver Chen Gong asked in the WeChat voice: "How did you get it? This time we still find the NPC to deliver the goods? By the way, how did you trigger a special task today?"

"It's a long story... For this mission, two people have to go to the new map."

"OK, where are we going? How long will the drive take?"

“You have to take a plane across the Pacific Ocean.”

A week later.

The atmosphere at Los Angeles International Airport is particularly busy. In the terminal hall, colorful neon signs and various billboards complement each other. People are carrying all kinds of luggage and rushing through the spacious hall, with footsteps and conversations coming and going. Near a boarding gate, two passengers in suits are standing together, waiting to check in.

Behind the counter was a female staff member in a blue uniform. She had a professional smile on her face and was handling the formalities for the passengers in front of her with skillful movements. When it was Chen Gong and Liang Ruikun's turn, the staff member politely asked, "Gentlemen, please show your boarding pass and ID." Chen Gong quickly took out his passport and boarding pass from his briefcase and handed them to the staff member. Liang Ruikun also took out his ID from the side pocket of his suitcase and handed it over as well.

The staff carefully looked at the photo on the ID, then looked at Liang Ruikun who was checking in, and then looked at the ID again.

"Beautiful lady, do you have any questions?" asked the character controlled by Liang Ruikun.

"Oh, oh, sorry, sorry, it's just that your appearance is really impressive, oh, sorry, I'll check you in right away."

The staff's answer left Liang Ruikun speechless in front of the computer screen, and even triggered complaints from his roommates:

“Hahahahahahaha, I told you this game is very real, don’t make those weird faces.”

"Fortunately, my character has put all his expertise points into cheating. Otherwise, with your unique face, Ruikun, we would definitely not be able to pass this level today."

Just like Ji Tianping's specialization in lock picking and Chen Gong's specialization in driving, everyone in the five-man team chose to go the "specialization route" instead of distributing the precious points equally. Cao Boyuan chose a late-stage specialization route, hacker; Zhang Xiatian's specialization was in production, and Liang Ruikun was the team's combat leader.

There is no doubt that the IDs of Chen Gong and Liang Ruikun were all fake. Fortunately, the fake IDs made by Zhang Xiatian were well made. Moreover, it was not the year of 911/ yet. The Transportation Security Administration of the United States had not yet been established. Americans were quite confident in the safety of their flights, and the management was still quite loose. As for the professional identities of Chen Gong and Liang Ruikun, they were project managers of a multinational company, which was even more nonsense. This multinational company only had five people in the black five-man team, and each of them was a project manager. What was the company's main business? I have no idea. How did the company raise funds? Anyway, they would not go to the bank, but adopted more classical means of raising funds (referring to visiting the homes of rich people in person every night to "convince" them to raise funds).

Chen Gong and Liang Ruikun received their IDs and boarding passes and then walked towards the security checkpoint. When it was Chen Gong and Liang Ruikun's turn, the burly security personnel motioned them to put their luggage on the conveyor belt and then scanned them with a metal detector. Both of them raised their hands in cooperation, because there was no prohibited item on them or in their luggage.

Some people may ask: "How can a player not have some prohibited items on him?"

Of course it exists, but it exists in the "other-dimensional pocket". This "pocket" is a little small. Now each of them can only put a pistol and some magazines in it, and even an assault rifle cannot be put in.

When the two walked through the boarding bridge, the night outside was already deep. The plane stopped under the lights, and the silver fuselage flickered in the night sky. Chen Gong and Liang Ruikun walked into the cabin one after another, found their seats, and waited until the characters in the game had closed their eyes and were ready to rest. The plane began to taxi, and after a while, the plane entered the stratosphere, and the lights in the cabin gradually dimmed. In the night sky, the plane drew a beautiful arc, heading towards its destination - Beijing.

Then they will take a train to their real destination, Northeast China.

.....................

At this time, China has entered the vigorous "Spring Festival Travel" period, and a large number of migrant workers from the southern coastal areas return home to celebrate the New Year with large and small bags.

The game characters controlled by Chen Gong and Liang Ruikun followed the queue and slowly walked towards the train. Looking at the crowded crowd in front of them, Chen Gong and Liang Ruikun almost thought they could not get on the train. After all, this game does not allow characters to be inserted. However, the high-end woolen clothes of the two people and the strange white face that Liang Ruikun made did work. The staff at the train station used all their strength to push the two people into the train.

The train started slowly, and the scene outside the window began to move backwards. The prosperity of Beijing was gradually left behind, replaced by fewer and fewer high-rise buildings and more and more empty fields. As time went by, the train entered the northeast of China. The scene outside the window became more and more desolate, and the vast wilderness and forests were particularly quiet under the cover of snow. Occasionally, you can see a village in the distance, with smoke rising, as if adding a few warm colors to the endless white canvas.

The train continued to move forward, passing through tunnels and bridges. Chen Gong and Liang Ruikun met some local passengers in the carriage, who enthusiastically introduced the scenery and customs along the way. But some things happened that made Chen Gong and Liang Ruikun laugh and cry. Since they learned that Chen Gong and Liang Ruikun were from the United States, more and more passengers from other carriages squeezed over to see the wonder.

Oh, there were also a few kids brought here by their parents, or pushed here to be more precise. On one side were the kids with social anxieties, and on the other side were the parents who urged them, “Hey, you finally met a foreigner here, why don’t you use the English you learned in school to chat with them.”

The child couldn't persuade his parents, so he timidly asked, "How are you?"

Liang Ruikun: "I'm fine, thank you, and you?"

"Mom, what the teacher taught is right. Look, this foreigner really responded like this!"

After that, more and more people came to Liang Ruikun and his team to practice speaking, including not only children but also middle school students. When someone asked Liang Ruikun what they did and why they were coming to China, Liang Ruikun boasted, "We are managers of a multinational company and we are here to invest and do business!"

"invest?"

"Correct!"

"Then... then you are going in the wrong direction. How can you go north across Shanhaiguan to invest? It's like throwing money into the water..."

We chatted aimlessly until late at night. Most of the passengers on the train had fallen asleep. The train slowly stopped at a desolate station, the kind that only stops for two or three minutes. There was only a sign at the station. As soon as the train stopped, we entered the train without even checking our tickets. Since there was no surveillance and the tickets were not real-name, it was impossible to tell who was who.

It was at this small station that five men who looked like they were not easy to mess with entered the train. Once they entered the train, they pulled out knives and searched the pockets and luggage of the sleeping passengers one by one. If they saw a bag that contained money, they would just take it away. Since it was the Spring Festival travel season, many people carried all the cash they earned from working with them. The five robbers had a good harvest in this round of looting. I don't know how many people's hard-earned income was robbed by this group of people, and I don't know how many passengers were molested and injured in the process.........

Did anyone notice the five robbers? Of course there were some, but they didn't dare to say anything and could only pretend to sleep. If you looked at them for a few more times, the robbers would come over and hit you in the face with a knife to remind you not to shout. Most people didn't dare to resist. After all, if you were stabbed, it would be hard to say whether the police could come to save you, let alone whether you could hold on until you saw the police. There was no hospital on the train. If you were stabbed, you could only go to the next major station and be sent to the local hospital for rescue. You would most likely die on the way.

On this train, there happened to be Chen Gong and Liang Ruikun, two people who were not afraid of death at all. Not only did they stare at the robbers with wide eyes, they also muttered: "Aren't they said that train robbers are scary? Why are they doing it here? They didn't even use guns? It's far worse than the train robberies in the American West last century."

Chen Gong: "What do you mean? The two of us..."

Liang Ruikun: "No, I'll go alone..."

Chapter 3 Every Train is a Mobile Bank

In the 90s, there was a saying that "every train is a mobile bank". Whether on a train or at a train station, theft, pickpocketing and robbery were rampant. So how could a few robbers clear an entire carriage of passengers?

One reason is that the other party is a gang member, ranging from a few to dozens of people. Among these people, there are at least two or three very ruthless ones. Others are afraid of trouble, but in order not to be looked down upon or kicked out of the group, they often do more vicious things to prove themselves. For example, if the person in charge of threatening with weapons encounters a stubborn person who refuses to pay, he will stab the passenger in the shoulder;

Second, there are few train police these days, only about one to three. Even those who are armed with guns are limited by the large number of passengers on the train. They are afraid of accidentally injuring passengers, so they often choose to fight with criminals. Every year, many train police are injured or even sacrificed.

Third, these robbers will also immediately warn and beat up anyone who might be able to stand up for justice. So even if every passenger in a carriage could kill these robbers with a punch, it would be difficult for passengers who don't know each other to unite. When a loose group of people faces organized criminals, it is often dangerous to resist alone.

As the robbers' movements became louder and louder, the passengers' screams and fear spread throughout the carriage. Some hugged their bags tightly, while others huddled in a corner, praying that the disaster would pass quickly. Several robbers walked up to a young woman and demanded money and property from her. When she refused, the criminals took a look at the pretty woman and one of them said, "She must have hidden the money in her underwear!" Then he reached out to play hooligan.

At this moment, Liang Ruikun had already picked up the long-handled umbrella and was ready to stand up. But before Liang Ruikun stood up, someone in the carriage had already stood up, and a young man with a crew cut who was napping in the corner was awakened. He immediately yelled at the gangster: "Stop, don't act like this!"

When the gangsters saw someone intervene, several of them focused their attention on the young man with a crew cut. The gangster did not stop, and his arrogance became even more arrogant, as if he could do nothing to him. Seeing this, the young man with a crew cut stopped talking and took action. He kicked a knife-wielding gangster in front of him and made him retreat continuously, and then punched another gangster in the chest. Unexpectedly, at this moment, two gangsters rushed out from another carriage, one hugged the young man's legs, and the other held his neck tightly. The gangster who was kicked down by the young man also rushed over viciously, waving a knife.

It seemed that nothing could stop the criminals from stabbing in with a white knife and coming out with a red knife.

"boom--"

In the blink of an eye, something seemed to fly over, and then there was a crisp sound from the head of the knife-wielding gangster. It was the sound of the skull colliding violently with metal. The next second, the knife-wielding gangster's legs went soft and he fell to the ground, and the metal thermos cup that had made a pleasant sound on his head also fell beside him.

"Does it sound good? If it sounds good, it means it's a good start..." Liang Ruikun said sarcastically.

The confused robbers then realized that there was a second brave man in this short carriage. Although this man looked much more terrifying than themselves, he only had an umbrella in his hand, and his clothes looked very expensive, like a rich man who was not very good at fighting.

"you wanna die!"

"Kill him and rob him clean. This foreigner must be rich!"

The remaining robbers were furious. Except for a few who stayed behind to control the short-haired young man, the rest rushed forward with knives in hand. However, the narrow corridor restricted their movements, so they could not rush forward all at once. They could only attack Liang Ruikun one by one, like the gourd dolls saving their grandfather. This was exactly what Liang Ruikun expected. The character in the game leaned forward slightly, ready to fight.

The first robber rushed over, and the long-handled umbrella, which was longer than the knife in the robber's hand, suddenly stabbed at the robber's throat. This was a very technically difficult move, but Liang Ruikun, who specialized in combat, still managed to hit it. The force was so great that the robber fell down in pain. Liang Ruikun did not forget to control the character in the game to perform combos, and a flying kick hit the robber's chin, a clean and neat "execution technique".

The second robber swung his knife straight at Liang Ruikun's chest, and the blade flashed a cold light. Liang Ruikun's game character dodged sideways, and then smoothly triggered the "defense counterattack" special effect. The long-handled umbrella in his hand quickly swept across and hit the robber's soft abdomen. The robber fell to the ground in pain. Liang Ruikun repeated the previous combo and hit the robber's neck with the umbrella, and the robber fainted immediately.

The third robber, the gangster who had just acted like a hooligan, was obviously a little scared, but he still mustered up the courage to rush forward in the end, his knife pointing straight at Liang Ruikun's throat, but... just like the minions before, their fighting ability was too weak, and engaging in hand-to-hand combat with Liang Ruikun was like a level 5 trash from the novice village challenging a level 60 boss in the city, and it could not bring any operational pressure to Liang Ruikun in front of the screen (referring to the qte quick response button).

Liang Ruikun quickly took a step back, using one hand to operate the umbrella to block the blade. With his other hand, he picked up a glass bottle from a passenger's table next to him and threw it hard, hitting the robber in the face. The robber fell to the ground in pain with his face full of glass shards.

The remaining robbers looked at each other and finally realized that the man in front of them was not an ordinary passenger, but a hard-core ruthless man disguised as a passenger. They quickly let go of the young man with a short haircut under their control and prepared to escape without looking back, but this was a speeding train, and it would take more than ten minutes before it stopped at the next station. Where could they escape to?

Besides, how could Liang Ruikun let these small fish go? You have already shown a red bar, so "eradicate all evil!"

The long-handled umbrella in his hand turned into a spear and hit the waist of the gangster accurately. The hit was like a hammer on the waist. The gangster was in so much pain that he couldn't stand up. Now, seeing that a hero stepped forward and beat the gangsters like a "dog in the water", the passengers in the robbed carriage in front also joined in and "beat the dog in the water". The knife in the gangster's hand was taken away by the passengers after struggling for only a few seconds, and then he was beaten and kicked.

After a while, until Liang Ruikun sat back in his seat, the passengers in the carriage finally came to their senses and applauded. Several passengers who had been robbed brought food and drinks to thank Liang Ruikun, and several passengers whispered in private: "Oh, it was my fault during the day. I shouldn't have called him ugly behind his back. This should be called unique..."

After a long while, the train police finally arrived and took the robbers away with great effort. Why did they take so much effort? It was because Liang Ruikun beat them to death. The train police basically dragged away the bodies of the criminals one by one. Even if there were a few who were still breathing, it was unknown whether they could hold on until the train arrived at the next station to go to the hospital.

However, these days, Liang Ruikun would not be charged with "mutual fighting". Killing car thieves or road bullies is basically considered "heroic act" and some people will even be given a bonus.

After this conflict, Liang Ruikun and Chen Gong also got to know an NPC, who was the young man who first stood up and bravely did the right thing. During the conversation, they learned that this young man was a PLA soldier who was on holiday and returning home for the New Year.

"No wonder you stood up," Liang Ruikun said.

The young man scratched his head and said, "I really didn't understand why the gangster had two helpers in another car. To be honest, I really have to thank you for your help this time, otherwise the gangster would have stabbed several holes in my body with a knife."

Unconsciously, Liang Ruikun, Chen Gong and the young soldier chatted a lot along the way until the sky was bright. Liang Ruikun and Chen Gong finally arrived at their destination. They said goodbye to the enthusiastic passengers in the same compartment and left their pager numbers to the young PLA soldier to make friends. However, when Liang Ruikun and Chen Gong got off the train and were about to find a hotel to stay in, Liang Ruikun touched the bag hanging on his waist... Why was it empty?

"Where's my pager?"

When he turned around, he saw a child running in the opposite direction of Liang Ruikun and Chen Gong, and disappeared in the crowd in the blink of an eye.

Chapter 4: The property is returned to the original owner but a favor is owed

The cold winter wind mixed with snowflakes whistled through the empty streets. The old buildings were mottled with paint peeling off, and looked dilapidated. In the distance, the towering chimneys had long stopped smoking, and the factories that were once bustling were overgrown with weeds, and the machinery and equipment were rusty, as if forgotten in the corner of time. Everywhere you can see workers unemployed, business depressed, workers doing nothing, drinking on the streets all day, young workers who can't find jobs, wandering around the streets in groups, living in poverty, workers in a state of depression, etc..........

"The working class was torn apart, and their "familiar life in the past fell apart." Along with this fragmented status quo of the working class, on the huge material ruins of the old industrial areas, there appeared "the ruins of the silent spirit of the working class." In the 20s, China once again became a country undergoing changes in the midst of turbulent times." (Cutscene quote)

"A new map has been unlocked: Shenyang"

.................

Even without a pager, it did not affect Liang Ruikun and Chen Gong's settlement in the city. Accommodation management was not strict these days, and guests were not required to present valid identification documents for identity registration. In this way, as long as you were willing to pay the room fee, the hotel owner would not care too much about the authenticity of your identity information. Even Liang Ruikun and Chen Gong, two foreigners, did not have to spend much effort to find a good hotel.

With a place to stay, it is natural to start the task. Of course, a good worker must first sharpen his tools. Liang Ruikun and Chen Gong first went to a restaurant for a meal (not eating will cause debuffs, and not eating for a long time will lead to death), and then went to get a motorcycle. Only with a vehicle can Chen Gong's character expertise be fully utilized.

at the same time.