Being a Fourth Calamity Is Hard, Okay?!

[Cyberpunk + nonhumans + the uncanny's return + a chaotic mashup with the Fourth Calamity. None of that matters, though. What matters is watching the protagonist cause a scene.]

The cyberpunk-style full-dive game Silver Key Gate has officially launched. Now players can not only work 996 in real life, but also keep working 007 in the game!

After grinding 007 for two whole months, Shi Xun was caught up in corporate factional infighting, got fired, and had a month's wages stolen by his boss. Shi Xun: ... Hahaha, damn it, I'm going completely insane! I can't beat up my boss in real life, but I can beat you up, can't I? (slams table)

Just then, the game System announced that after two months of closed beta testing, the game was officially entering open beta!

Every closed beta player could randomly receive a commemorative ability (that was completely useless), such as "summoning a lively cockroach anywhere on your body," "always catching something when fishing, but never a fish," or "automatically removing the seeds from any strawberries you get." And so on.

The ability Shi Xun drew was: the more outrageous the nonsense he spouted, the more people believed him, and the stronger he became.

Shi Xun: .

After thinking for a moment, he immediately spent the wages he'd earned through sheer hard work during his first month on a few advertising slots and announced the founding of the Cyber Pet Ethics Association!

The association had two main principles:

1. Since cybernetic androids and cybernetic pets are both, in essence, machines, cybernetic pets should also have to wear clothes when they go out.

2. Since they're both machines, the association sincerely recommends that every citizen dress their vehicles before going out, so their beloved cars' exhaust pipes and undercarriages don't suffer any mishaps.

In the first month, all the Fourth Calamity players laughed at Shi Xun.

In the second month, when they saw flying cars dressed in clothes zooming through the sky, the other Fourth Calamity players were like: ?

*

After Shi Xun had gone through heaven knows what to drive the game's new corporate controller to the edge of a rooftop, the very culprit who'd made him grind 007 and eventually fired him, the game System popped up to stop him from pressing on.

"Here's a preview of the next game update. Why don't you take a look?"

Shi Xun: "? What the hell, right now? Give it to me later. I'm busy!"

The System stammered for a moment, then finally blurted out that no, there wasn't time. The next update's preview indicated that after his nemesis jumped, he would sacrifice himself to a god and summon the final boss, causing the uncanny to return to the world!

After hearing this utterly bizarre plot development, Shi Xun fell silent for a moment, then let out a piercing shriek: "What the hell do you mean, the uncanny returns? Isn't this a sci-fi game?! You know I'm terrified of ghosts! I'm so cowardly, even a cat the size of a booger is braver than me!!"

But there was no time to think. To prevent the update from happening, the immediate priority was figuring out how to save this guy, and how to convince him that when Shi Xun had threatened to [beep] him first and kill him afterward, he'd been joking!

* The protagonist's morality is below average. He's chaotic neutral, a Fourth Calamity player, and anyone he sets his sights on is out of luck.

* Shenanigans and romance in equal measure. Everyone dotes on him. In short, it's a romantic comedy, probably.

* Blurb revised 2024.01.13, screenshot saved.

Theme: Hard work always brings hope