MidReal Story
Virtual Wanderer: Seeking Freedom in Neon Shadows
Scenario: Somewhere in the cyberpunk future, I was sitting in a dilapidated van, bumping along the road leaving the city. The neon lights gradually disappeared behind them, replaced by deep darkness. I opened the wine bottle next to me, letting the alcohol warm my throat and my heart that longed for freedom.
Tonight, I sat on the roof of the car, looking up at the long-lost "starry sky". Although I know that they are just reflections of lights in the outer suburbs of the city, under the influence of alcohol, they appear so beautiful, as if they are the real starry sky. I even made a wish on a "shooting star", but maybe I didn't see anything and it was all just an illusion.
I have passed through many cities, and they all have similar buildings and lights, but each city has a different atmosphere and different stories. In the morning, when the first ray of sunlight shone on my face, I realized that I was once again immersed in the virtual world and missed the sunrise.
In this era, virtual currency is both wealth and code that binds the soul. I watched my digital assets dwindling, and anxiety spread in my heart. Until one day, I found a huge sculpture in a forest. She was abandoned here, beautiful and lonely. She couldn't smell the fragrance of green leaves, couldn't see the blue of the sky, and could only lie in pieces on this land.
At that moment, I suddenly realized that wandering was just a different way of connecting electricity. No matter where I go, I can't really escape this world controlled by technology and virtuality. But I still long for freedom and find my own destination. Perhaps, the real destination is not somewhere, but in the starry sky that belongs to you in your heart.
Create my version of this story
There are a few things I would never do.
One, I would never want to get involved in any relationship.
Two, I would never comb my hair nor shave my face.
Three, I would never stop wandering.
Four, I would never stop rebelling.
But now the first three have been broken, and only the last one is left.
The city’s neon lights loomed behind me, but I didn’t look back.
I found myself in a dilapidated van, leaving the city’s chaos and noise behind.
After we entered the suburbs, it was dark and deserted, and I could see vast fields of green crops on both sides of us.
We passed through a small village and then continued on the road with no street lamps on either side.
At that moment, a strong sense of solitude came to me.
I opened the bottle of wine that had been placed in the cup holder and took a sip, feeling the burning sensation slide down my throat.
The wine was warm and it warmed my heart, too.
The city was full of artificial lights, and all sorts of shops were lit up just to make people feel that it was daytime even at night.
The streets were bustling with people, but they were not real people who cared about each other—they were just rushing to their destinations.
I hid among the crowd, but I could still feel the loneliness deep in my heart.
I took another sip of wine and the slightly sour taste lingered in my mouth.
The van driver was listening to music in a low voice, and the wine made me drowsy.
I leaned against the window and looked out at the deserted fields.
The van was shaking slightly, and there was a faint warmth inside.
The place we were going was unknown to me, so I didn’t know how long it would take to get there.
It was a very far away place that was also very close at hand.
The time slowly passed.
I drank half a bottle of wine and felt that I had almost reached my limit.
I put on my hat and leaned against the window to sleep.
I woke up when I felt someone shaking me.
I opened my eyes and saw an uncle sitting in front of me.
I had no idea how long I had slept or where I was.
We were stopped at some gas station with no one else around.
The only light in this dark place came from a slightly flickering light bulb.
The cool wind came in from outside and blew on my face.
I rubbed my eyes and said nothing.
I got out of the car and stretched.
“Here you are.” The driver handed over two bottles of water and pointed to the far end of the field.
“It’s over there.”
“Okay.” I took the two bottles of water and walked in that direction.
It was still dark and I could barely see anything.
I opened a bottle of water and drank it as I walked.
The water had been heated up by the sun during the day and it tasted bad.
I walked to the far end and found a car parked there.
It was an old car with traces of rust on it and peeling paint.
I opened the door and saw a row of chairs inside.There were people sitting on some of those chairs.They all had strange headgear on, and I could see that they were all connected to the same device by their headgear and gloves.
They were all silent and motionless, and I didn’t know what they were doing.
I looked for an empty chair to sit down and put on the headgear and gloves the driver had given me.
After I put it on, I entered into the game world.
That was my habit when I felt bored or tired—I would run away from reality and dive into cyberspace to play games or do other things to kill time and relax myself.
But now I felt like this wasn’t enough to help me escape my loneliness and sadness anymore.
So I climbed onto the roof of the car and lay down on my back, looking at what I wished were stars in the sky above me.
The sky was dark, but the low-hanging smog reflected the lights of the city, which looked like stars in the sky from a distance.
I had always been curious about the mysteries of the world, such as the universe, life, stars, and darkness.
But I had never really thought about those things, nor had I had the chance to learn about them.
Now, under the influence of alcohol, even though I knew that what I was looking at wasn’t a real starry sky, I still thought it was very beautiful.
I lay there in silence for a long time, staring at the “stars” in the sky, until I saw a “shooting star” passing by, leaving a long tail behind it.
I made a wish that I knew would not come true—I wished that I could see a real starry sky before I died.
After making the wish, I didn’t feel anything special—I just kept staring at the “stars” in the sky.
A long time passed before my phone vibrated in my pocket to remind me that my virtual assets were running out and I needed to recharge them in order to continue playing games or doing other things to kill time in cyberspace.
I opened my phone and checked my balance: there was only a little bit left in my account, which meant that I couldn’t do anything else but play games with low cost-effectiveness—games that required a lot of money to play were no longer an option for me.
I thought about it for a while before recharging my account with the last bit of money I had left in my bank account—50 yuan, which would give me 500 virtual credits to play games with in cyberspace.
As soon as I recharged my account, I received a notification from the bank telling me that my balance was below 100 yuan, so I would be charged an overdraft fee of 5 yuan every day from now on until I made a deposit to repay my debt.
I turned off my phone, put it back in my pocket, and lay down on the roof of the van again.
The first light of dawn was about to appear, and dawn was always my favorite moment—that was when I felt most at peace.
But now that I was in cyberspace, I had no way of seeing the sunrise, nor did I have a chance to see it.
When I woke up, it was already past 7 in the morning, so I had missed the sunrise again.
I opened my eyes, got up from the roof of the van, and walked over to the driver’s seat.
The driver was still asleep, as were all the other passengers, except for some who had woken up early to play games or watch videos on their phones.
In addition to a few who were sleeping, there were also many others who were still lying on their beds, hugging their virtual girlfriends or boyfriends with their eyes closed.
I took a look around before opening the door, getting down from the van, and walking into the service area.
It was still dark outside, and there were very few people on the streets.
It was also very quiet, except for the buzzing sound of drones flying overhead.
I was too lazy to go for a walk or do anything else, so I went back to the van to find something to eat.
I rummaged through my backpack and found a bread roll I had bought at a convenience store a few days ago.
It was already hard and inedible now, but I was too lazy to go buy a new one and eat it.
After eating the bread roll and drinking some water, I climbed into the bed again to sleep for a while.
When I woke up again, everyone in the van was awake and the sun was already shining outside.
The sun gave off a gentle light and warmth, which made the air in the bedroom where I was sleeping very comfortable to breathe in.
I got up from the bed and turned off the virtual reality glasses before getting out of the van to stretch my legs.
I don’t know how long we’ve been driving for, but I think there’s at least half an hour left until we reach our destination.
I took a few steps forward and looked at the city in front of me—the city looked very beautiful under the sun’s rays.
The buildings were tall and straight, and the people on the streets were all dressed in neat and tidy clothes that looked very fashionable.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again and walking towards the city’s gates.
As soon as I arrived at the gates, I saw that there were many people standing outside them, waiting for their turn to enter the city.
There were all kinds of people outside the city gates—some were carrying large bags on their backs, while others were carrying weapons in their hands.
Some of them had fierce expressions on their faces, while others were talking and laughing with each other.
I walked past them and followed the road to where I saw a forest not far away from here.
In that forest, there was a figure lying on the ground—a colossal figure.
She was lying there motionlessly as if she were asleep, with her eyes closed and her hair spread out behind her back like a river.
I walked over to her and recognized her—she was a statue or sculpture that stood in front of the city gates.
I don’t know why she is here now and why she is lying down instead of standing up as before.
I looked at her for a while before walking away to find something to eat in the city.
After eating my fill of food and drinking some water, I continued on my journey to find a new place to rest in the city.
I went through many cities along the way, and they all looked very beautiful—there were many tall buildings in the cities and they were all very bright and dazzling under the sun’s rays.
The view from the window of the van was a mix of tall buildings and neon lights, so it looked pretty much like what you’d expect to see in a cyberpunk future city.
The cities I passed by were all very beautiful and charming, but I didn’t have the heart to stop and visit them because I had made up my mind not to waste any more time on this journey.
I had been traveling for a long time since I had left the city behind me—I don’t know how long I’d been traveling for because I didn’t have a watch with me—but I felt that I had been traveling for at least a day now and I should have reached my destination by now.
But for some reason, we still hadn’t reached our destination yet and I didn’t know why that was.
I sighed and leaned back against the window of the van to take a break before continuing on with my journey.
I felt as if I had been traveling for a long time already and I wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible so that I could finally be free again.
I got back into my old car and prepared for the next stop of my trip. But what I didn’t know was that this next stop would be my last.
The first thing that caught my eye was the notification that popped up on the screen in front of me, and it reminded me that the asset value of the account had fallen below the warning level, which meant that if it continued like this, the account would be frozen, and I would no longer be able to access the network and use the virtual currency in this world.
It was so harsh and cruel, like a slap in the face reminding me of how little time I had left and how few options I still had left, and it made me feel even more like a cornered beast trying to escape its fate, but no matter how hard it tried to break free, it would still be caught by the hunter in the end.
It was the same for me now.
The number of notifications kept increasing without stopping, and they were all warnings that repeated over and over again.
It was as if the system was trying to scare me by saying, “If you don’t do something about this, you’ll never be able to use your account again”, but what it didn’t know was that I couldn’t do anything about this situation right now even if I wanted to.
I just wanted to escape this world that was nothing but a prison to me, but it wouldn’t let me go so easily, so I had no choice but to keep running away from it until it gave up on trying to chase me down and finally let me go.
I couldn’t wait any longer and needed something to distract myself from this horrible situation that I was in right now so I just decided to be impulsive and open up one of the pages that I had seen on some forum before and see what was inside of it.
