[img]http://puu.sh/yt6WO.png[/img]

[quote]It wouldn't be strange to be a secluded person in this year 30XX, as technology has advanced to a point where everything is just [i]convenient[/i].  Food can still be bought from the store, but the days where people would have to blankly stare at the two different brands of the same product were long gone.  Education and schooling was still a crucial part of society, but there was no longer a need for such buildings to exist.  Having a job, or pursuing a career, was still part of becoming an adult; a part of society, but with the introduction of inter-planetary agriculture and husbandry, the concept of infinite resources was no longer just theoretical.

This and much more had come to be thanks to the invention of the 'In-brain Memory Chip' ([b]IMC[/b]) and its ability to function as a perfect information HUB.

With the pioneering of technological advancements to the human body bearing fruit, the IMC opened the door to a complete revamp to society as a whole.  Food could now be delivered straight to you via drones and built-in conveyer belts.  Education and schooling became near obsolete, as all information was retained and easily accessed via the IMC.  Jobs and careers were a thing of choice, as there was no need to conserve resources; there was no need to make money to pay for anything.  Everything had become [i]convenient[/i].

Lau Jun Long.  35 years old, unfit, hardcore gamer, complete shut-in.

Describing Lau Jun Long wouldn't require many words.  He was just another person who was simply living on a day-to-day basis - much like the other 90% of the world.  His daily routine would be to tire himself out with online entertainment, such as virtual reality gaming and raging by himself to random social feeds.  Starve himself until he noticed his stomach crying out for food, which usually preceeded stuffing his mouth full with whatever junk he felt like eating at that particular moment.  After completely exhausting himself, Jun Long would then proceed to plopping his body onto his bed and going to sleep.

Despite all this, Jun Long hadn't neglected basic studies - sometimes advanced - in most subjects regarding this and that.

Jun Long had stored in his IMC the dictionaries of all five main languages that the world uses, so language barriers would not stop him from his virtual reality gaming.  His constant over-use of the IMC, where he'd be so efficient in the use of it that, if any other person was able to see the UI of [i]his[/i] IMC, they would not be able to follow exactly what he had done.  With the IMC's UI being accessed by a person's ability to focus their thoughts, to be able to navigate through the IMC's UI at high speeds was a show of the individual's worth.

It wasn't uncommon to see people who could navigate the IMC's UI quickly.  The average [i]thoughts per minute[/i] ([b]TPM[/b]) was around 40 to 65TPM per person, and there were many people who were making up to 110TPM on average.  These people would usually be in a high standing in society, whether it be from their chosen career paths, or their ability to research new ways to make the world more convenient.

Lau Jun Long wasn't interested in being well-known, in this world.  People who are known to perform above the average were all urged to pioneer new technologies or new frontiers in the ever-expanding search through space.  Jun Long already knew, at age 10, that he did [i]not[/i] want to do anything like that.  No.  Being a complete shut-in was the life for him.

This would've been the case, until he eventually died of old age, however, standing in a room vaguely familiar - yet not - Jun Long could only begin to wonder just where in the world he could possibly be.

"[i]Just... what is going on?...[/i]"

Jun Long thought to himself.  His eyes were panning across his surroundings, and the IMC built into his head had already begun whirling its miniscule engine to complete the action it was given.  In his vision, the confused Jun Long was now watching his memories from the past one hour.  It showed that he was walking towards the toilet when the doorbell chimed and he waddled quickly towards the door.

The doorbell rang once more, as he was just reaching for the door's electronic lockpad which was trendily positioned at shoulder level on the wall next to the door.

"[i]Yeah, yeah!  I'm opening it, already.  Shit![/i]

Jun Long cursed.  He always hated people who tried to rush him.

Inputting the PIN number, which he would've forgotten if he hadn't remembered it to the IMC, Jun Long stood there as the door slid open sideways.  To his surprise, there was no one standing there.  Jun Long proceeded to use his IMC to scan his vision to search for whoever it may have been that rung his doorbell.

"[i].... Fuck![/i]

Jun Long mumbled aggressively.  He stepped out into the bright light of the day, and raised his hand to shade his eyes, to see if there really was no one around.  Turning his head to both sides, Jun Long still couldn't find anything out of the ordinary.  As he gave up and decided to head back inside, the audio in the recording chimed out with the same melody that was his doorbell.

Finding it very strange, Jun Long spun his body back to facing out towards the front of the house, and tried to locate where the sound was coming from.  The melody sounded, once more, and Jun Long managed to pick up where it came from.  Stepping out of his door frame, Jun Long waddled towards the sound.  The day was warmer than usual, and it made moving his body hard.

Starting to sweat, Jun Long turned the corner at the end of the block to continue tracking down this mysterious melody's source.  When it came to this point, in the recording, everything turned to black for a small while, before it came back and showed the room that Jun Long was currently standing in.  It was a very different layout and design to anything that Jun Long was used to.  The walls were made of wood, and there was no colour anywhere.

"[i]Why the hell did my vision just 'black-out' all of a sudden?![/i]"

Jun Long asked himself.  He ran the recording, once more, slowing down the moments just before his vision came to a sudden blackscreen.  Shocked by what he found, Jun Long once again felt faint and ended up having to keep his head up with his hands.  What Jun Long saw in the last bits of the recording, as he watched it frame-by-frame, was that he had actually been hit by a car that had run itself into the airspace above the walk-path.

"[i]I... died...[/i]"

Jun Long mumbled in disbelief.

"[i]What the FUCK?!  What am I going to do about my game?!!  I finally managed to drag my sorry excuse of a guild to first place!!  AHH!![/i]"

He complained, his frustrations not really aimed at the fact that he had died.  Jun Long raged for a while longer before coming to a sudden halt - his posture ending up in a weird 'r' shape.

"[i]If I died... then where have I come to?  The 'afterlife'?...

Is this where people go, when they die?  Am I a ghost?![/i]"

Jun Long questioned himself endlessly until he heard the sound of children laughing coming from outside of his room's window.  He walked over to peek outside and saw a scene that made his eyes open wide.

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