My avatar is becoming the final boss

Chapter 2-Awakening
【Welcome, our number one player. 】

[The "Infinite Split Game" has been loaded. Next, you will enter the "Game Character" creation stage.]

At first, Ji Minghuan thought he'd seen a ghost. Although he was conscious, he couldn't lift his eyelids, as if someone had taped them together with the skin beneath them.

In fact, this situation is not uncommon. Chinese people often call it "sleep paralysis."

Everyone will experience sleep paralysis once or twice in their life. The scientific explanation is that when you just wake up from sleep, part of your brain nerves have not yet fully awakened, and the connection with your body has naturally not been connected, so you feel like you are being pressed down by a ghost and cannot move.

However, Ji Minghuan soon realized that he was not suffering from sleep paralysis.

It's something far more mysterious.

Slowly emerging from the darkness, a panel with a red and black background interwoven into it first appeared. It resembled the UI of an RPG game. And at that moment, a line of text, composed of stacked pixels, lay in the center of the panel:
[Before the game starts, there is a question that must be confirmed to the player - "Can you tell whether you are dreaming or in reality?"]

What caught my eye was a line of standard simplified Chinese characters. There was no awkwardness in reading it, and not even the slightest difficulty in understanding.

Logically speaking, no matter how familiar or simple a sentence is, it takes at least one second for the brain to process its meaning.

But those words flowed into Ji Minghuan's mind as smoothly as a stream flowing into the sea, and the layout of the words seemed to be tailor-made for his reading habits.

And at this moment, four text options ABCD are floating below the panel.

From left to right, the texts inside these four options are: [A. I am in a dream], [B. I am in reality], [C. Neither a dream nor reality], [D. This is both a dream and reality].

At this moment, Ji Minghuan suddenly recalled what his mentor had said in the prison cell just now.

"Since you said you like playing games, it's very likely that your ability will appear before you in a form related to 'games'."

"Any form of superpower will help the person understand it. As for you... since you like playing video games, your superpower is likely to appear in this form—it will become a game level to test and guide you, thus helping you clearly understand how to use this superpower."

"So... this is my special ability?"

Ji Minghuan raised his eyebrows and thought so in his heart, but he did not rush to study the problem on the panel. Instead, he tried to move his gaze and look at the darkness outside the panel.

In less than two seconds, he found that his vision was firmly locked in this corner, and he was only allowed to concentrate on the four "text options" in front of him.

It's okay to "lock the perspective" in a VR game, but if it's put into reality, it feels very weird, as if there is an invisible existence hiding behind him, pressing down on his head and shoulders, and fixing his eyeballs in a specific area of ​​his eye sockets.

Out of helplessness, Ji Minghuan withdrew his attention and continued to look at the words.

But at this moment, next to the four options, Ji Minghuan suddenly saw something creepy - a thin, long object about 2 cm thick, covered with corpse-like pale skin, almost covering all the blood vessels.

This thing is...his index finger.

That's right, what caught his eyes at this moment was undoubtedly Ji Minghuan's index finger. He confirmed this through the scratches on the joints.

In the darkness, he stared at the finger quietly.

There is nothing surprising about seeing your own fingers in ordinary situations. You are not a lunatic.

But the situation now is different. At this moment, there is only this one finger, standing abruptly, strangely, and alone in the darkness, as if someone had cut off his finger and placed it alone on the chopping board.

In just a blink of an eye, Ji Minghuan discovered that he could control this "index finger" with his mind.

To be more precise, the feeling at this moment is as if one's fingers are separated from the body and become the "mouse" in the game interface.

As long as he thought about it, the index finger that had been separated from his right hand would move at high speed on the text interface in front of him like a "mouse light spot".

Normal people may feel surprised and disgusted when they see their body organs become independent devices.

But who is Ji Minghuan? The month he was locked up in the laboratory has already raised his psychological endurance threshold infinitely.

With just a blink of curiosity, he accepted this series of settings, and then treated this familiar yet unfamiliar index finger as a new and strange toy he had never seen before, moving it up and down, left and right, and finally even tried to break his "index finger mouse" with his mind.

Things went against his wishes, so Ji Minghuan put away his playful mood and turned to look at the text questions on the panel.

[Can you tell whether you are dreaming or in reality? ]

"Ask me if I'm dreaming?" he thought.

Even at this point, Ji Minghuan couldn't tell whether he was dreaming or not.

Because if this is a dream, then the feeling at this moment is too realistic; more importantly, the series of thought chains in the mind are very clear, and there are no logical breaks or logical jumps at all. Even if the entire thinking process is written on the blackboard, I am afraid that no problems will be found.

But objectively speaking, it is difficult for a dreamer to realize the fact that he is dreaming. Perhaps he is also "in the fog but not aware of the fog, and in the dream but not aware of the dream".

The "logical chain that he perceives as complete" is not complete, it's just that he cannot perceive the part that jumps or breaks.

"Forget it... choose the long one among the three short ones."

Ji Minghuan had a blank expression on his face. He showed the thinking and courage of a primary school student answering multiple-choice questions. He moved his index finger directly to the fourth option and clicked it without hesitation.

The next second, the text on the panel is refreshed.

[The player chose option D: "This is both a dream and reality."]

【Congratulations, your answer is correct.】

[As a reward for answering correctly, the player has received an "initial skill point" (after creating the first game character in the real world, you can use the skill point to develop the "character skill tree")]

If Ji Minghuan still had a head, it would most likely be tilted at this moment, and the tilt would be quite large. But unfortunately, in this dark space, the only thing that kept him company was his severed index finger.

The text on the panel refreshed quietly.

Are you ready to start creating your first "game character"? (You can also choose to start the game character creation phase after gathering more information about the world view - the more information you know, the initial strength of the game character you generate will likely increase accordingly.)

Two small text options appear below, namely [Yes] and [No].

"Whatever happens, at least it's interesting."

A month-long imprisonment had put Ji Minghuan's brain in an extremely lethargic and numb state. He felt suffocated from head to toe. At this point, the appearance of this kind of fun was like a huge source of stimulation dancing in front of his eyes.

He simply treated this as an interesting "lucid dream" and let go of his body and mind to enjoy it. Dragging his index finger like he was controlling a mouse, Ji Minghuan moved it to the options interface.

Then I pressed the first option - [Yes].

The text within the frame changed, and even denser text popped up, as densely packed as baby spiders emerging from an ovary, nearly filling his entire pupil. Ji Minghuan's eyelids didn't even twitch. He watched the scene silently, feeling somewhat relieved that he didn't have trypophobia.

Next, you will be allowed to create a "game character" in the real world. Once created, you will be allowed to freely control the character's actions according to your own thoughts. No matter where your real body is, whenever you fall asleep, your consciousness can be transferred to the created game character.

[When you are conscious, that is, outside of dreams, the game character will develop a set of "logical inference standards" based on your previous role-playing behavior, and then automatically adapt to the environment according to this set of standards until you take over control of the character next time.]

Of course, if you still want to control your character while awake, you can change this in the game settings. (Please note—doing so can easily trigger symptoms of schizophrenia or even split personality disorder: the collision, friction, and conflict between multiple perspectives and senses in your mind is unbearable for most people, and will place a tremendous strain on your mind. If overloaded, the consequences will be unimaginable, and your character may even go berserk.)

[Then, please choose one of the two "identity records" below. It will become your first game character and make its debut in the theater called "real world."]

"Why do I remember that 'make a debut' is a derogatory term... I haven't even started playing the game yet, but I already have the villain's script in my hands?" Ji Minghuan raised his eyebrows and thought to himself.

Dispelling the meaningless thoughts, he continued to read.

[No. 1 Role Record]

[Name: Gu Wenyu]

【Sex: Male】

[Age: 17 years old]

【Race: Yellow race】

[Category: Superhuman (One of the three major superhuman races. Each superhuman possesses unique abilities, the manifestation of which is closely related to their upbringing)]

[Basic Attributes: Strength: C-level; Speed: C-level; Spirit: C-level]

Initial rating: C

Background: You live in the Chinese capital, a native Lijing high school student. But one night, you suddenly awaken a special ability, gaining the ability to generate and control "dark restraints." From this day on, you gradually discover that your family, with whom you've lived together for over a decade, seems to be hiding some unknown secrets...

[This game offers three main growth paths for your character: Hero, Villain, and Gray character.]

[Note: Once you choose one of the main growth paths, the result will be irreversible, so please choose carefully.]

Ji Minghuan scanned the lines of text on the file and muttered softly, "A superpower, the ability to control restraints, sounds a bit strange. Speaking of which, Li Kyoto is here... Isn't this my hometown?"

To be more precise, Lijing was the city where the orphanage where he grew up was located. Until he was abducted to the experimental institute, he had never left the orphanage even once, and he didn't even go to school normally like some of the smarter children in the orphanage.

He used his index finger to drag the text panel downwards and looked at the second character file.

[No. 2 Role Record]

[Name: Andre]

【Sex: Male】

[Age: 16 years old]

【Ethnicity: Caucasian】

Category: Anecdote Envoy (One of the three superhuman races, capable of obtaining "Anecdote Fragments" from secret Anecdote Realms around the world and using the various fragment powers from the "Anecdote Atlas" to fight)

[Basic Attributes: Strength: D-level; Speed: D-level; Spirit: C-level]

[Initial evaluation: D++]

Background: You live in the Danish capital. Since childhood, you've been fascinated by the world's wonders and have an unquenchable passion for extraordinary adventure. One morning, you suddenly receive an invitation from the "Whale's Garden," opening the door to the world of wonder.

[This game character has two "growth lines" to choose from: Line 1: Anecdote Sentinel; Line 2: Evil Anecdote Envoy.]

"I don't understand... but he seems pretty powerful. Since the character class description says there are three major superhuman races, does that mean that besides 'esper' and 'strange news users', there's a third type of superhuman in the real world? What could it be?"

Ji Minghuan was somewhat curious about this, but did not waste much time deciding between the two character profiles.

Because the welfare home where he lived since he was a child was located in China's capital - "Lijing", and "Gu Wenyu" in the character file of No. 1 happened to be a native of Lijing, so the moment he saw the name of the city, he had made a decision in his mind.

If this dream was really generated by his supernatural power and had some relevance to reality, then choosing file number one would at least make it easier for him to go to the welfare home where he was previously staying to investigate and find out what organization had captured him and taken him to this laboratory.

The police may not know what happened, but based on Ji Minghuan's understanding of the director, unless the director is dead, he will definitely know that two children are missing from the welfare home for no reason, and he may even know where they were taken.

You have selected character profile number one—"Superpower Gu Wenyu." Please choose one of the following three character development paths: A. Hero; B. Villain; C. Gray Character.

After taking a quick look at the three options, Ji Minghuan chose C.

The reason is simple: he doesn't want to be a hero or a villain, he just wants to know who those people are who have captured him for research, and how he can get his body out of this fucked-up laboratory.

As a gray figure who walks between the black and white worlds, he naturally has more opportunities to obtain relevant information.

[This character's growth path #3, "Gray Character," has been selected, and a unique character development system has been created.]

[Please wait a moment. Your game character number 1, "Gu Wenyu," is being generated in the real world, and his existence is being made "reasonable"...]

[Soon to land in Lijing, China...The final countdown will begin shortly.]

【3...】

【2...】

【1...】

The moment the number in his pupils turned to 0, Ji Minghuan's vision was engulfed by the sudden light.

(End of this chapter)