Chapter 271 - The Stanley Parable (1/2)

There were more and more players visiting the experience store. The PC area in the first floor would reach ninety percent capacity during the weekends with ten or so PCs left unused.

The mobile and VR experience areas weren’t as packed, but were still around fifty percent capacity.

There were usually many players gathered around the holographic projection area as well. But just like with anything, the players would eventually get used to it.

-In the first floor of the experience store-

As it was a Thursday, there weren’t too many people in the experience store.

Chen Mo was on a sofa with a drink in one hand looking through the books that recently arrived.

There were two massive bookshelves on the sides of the halls filled with many gaming related books. Of course, a lot of them were novels, comics, or gaming albums. There were also some related to gaming design, but those were rarely touched.

“Manager,” a man in his late twenties in a suit swiped his ID at the front desk, greeting Chen Mo while he was doing that.

Chen Mo nodded in acknowledgement, “Isn’t it a Thursday? No work?”

They nodded, “Yeah, I took the day off.”

That was Zhao Lei, a regular at the experience store. They moved up north to find work and were currently working in a metals company. It was a high paying job and high stress to go with it.

Unlike other players, he didn’t visit the experience store to play games. He’d usually sit around in the main hall and chat with the others.

Zhao Lei didn’t have a big social circle, and mostly dealt with work related stuff in his work circle. But in the experience store, he found comfort.

Therefore, Zhao Lei frequented the experience store during the weekends. Overtime he familiarised himself with Chen Mo, Su Jinyu, and other regulars of the experience store.

Zhao Lei sat on the sofa next to him, ordered a cup of ice coffee and grabbed a comic book from the shelves.

Chen Mo looked at Zhao Lei’s tired face and asked, “What’s wrong, had a lot of stress lately?”

Zhao Lei nodded, “Yep. I don’t even know why, but I’ve been encountering idiots during work. I’ve had to entertain my clients quite a bit. I’ve had four of those drinking sessions last week, I’ve had to work overtime this weekend as well. I’ve decided I had enough for today so I took a day off.”

Chen Mo said sympathetically, “Yeah, take care of yourself. Do a health checkup when you can.”

Zhao Lei laughed, and said half jokingly, “Checkup? I’m afraid of finding out some serious disease that I can’t afford to fix.”

“Don’t be, health comes first.”

Zhao Lei nodded, “Yeah, I understand.

“Oh by the way manager, you haven’t released a new game in some time, is it because of the gaming platform?”

“That’s part of it, but then again, Minecraft has been out for less than two months. New games aren’t produced that quickly, you should enjoy the fruits of your labour anyways.”

“Oh, it’s only been two months? Geez, I’ve been losing track of time, it felt like it’s almost been half a year.”

Chen Mo laughed, “You’ve been too stressed, you should take it easy from time to time. If you stay highly stressed all the time like this, you’re bound to burn out eventually.”

“I don’t have any good way to destress. I don’t have many friends, nor do I have any hobbies. It feels like there’s not much I can do outside of working to provide for the family. I’d come over here to set around and relax a little.”

Chen Mo replied after some thought, “Actually, I have a game in the works that might suit you. Do you want to try it?”

Zhao Lei was surprised, “New game? Didn’t you say you haven’t had the time?”

Chen Mo stood up, “Aren’t you familiar with my work efficiency? Still in development means the game hasn’t been released but is already playable. Follow me.”