Chapter 2  : Pet Hunter

Zhang Zian decided to continue the pet store until he couldn’t support it anymore. His parents had loved pets very much. If they were looking down from heaven, they would be sad to see the store go.

Although it was a good wish, he knew nothing about running a pet store. There was a first time for everything, though; he believed he would find a way, one step at a time.

His first goal would be relatively small—to establish a solid footing in the city.

He had a big breakfast at a street vendor and felt energized. He returned to the store, moved the cages and display cases out, dusted with a broom, soaked the mop in disinfected water, and mopped the floor until it was nice and shiny. He moved the cages and display cases back after the floor had dried.

He also wanted to renovate the store, but he gave up on that thought after realizing the shortage in cash flow.

When he was cleaning the store, some neighbors walked by and expressed their sympathies for his loss. Some neighbors didn’t know him and just looked at the cages and display cases with curiosity.

When the sun started to rise, he finished cleaning. All the dust and odors were completely gone, leaving only the fresh scent from the disinfecting water. It smelled just like before.

His parents had always taught him to keep a clean mind and live a clean life.

He had gotten all sweaty from cleaning the store. He moved the reclining chair to the door and rested for a few minutes.

Now that he had decided to take over the pet store, there had to be some paperwork to handle. First, he needed to change the owner’s name from his parents to his name on the business license. He was not familiar with the procedure, so he started researching online using his cell phone.

“I have to go to the notary’s office. So much work!”

In order to inherit and transfer the pet store to his name, he needed to get an inheritance notarization using his ID card, the deed for the pet store, and his parents’ death certificates.

Zhang Zian always tried to avoid dealing with troublesome matters like that because he hated them. He was not even sure how he made such an irrational decision like inheriting the pet store.

He wanted to have a fresh mind and pull himself together. No matter how sad he was, he should not show his tears to the customers.

He opened the app store in his cell phone and started a search with “pet” as a keyword. He wanted to see if there was an app which would teach people how to run a pet store, although deep in his mind he didn’t think he would be able to find it.

Umm, what was that?

A game with a “limited time download” sign showed up in the search results.

Some apps and software were free for a limited time, but this was the first time he ran into something tagged “limited time download.”

“?”

[Game Description]: This is a magical game! You can capture real or virtual pets in this game. You can even capture mythical creatures and turn them into your faithful friends or partners! Download now and run towards the sunset, young man!

Ha!

He laughed. He achieved his goal to freshen up his mood.

Exaggerating! This was way over the line!

It might be possible to capture virtual pets, but how was it possible to capture a real pet with a cell phone? It even mentioned capturing mythical creatures… Unbelievable!

There was a countdown next to the game, showing that there were only 00 hours, 00 minutes, and 49 seconds left to download.

“Let’s see if this really is a ‘limited time download’!”

He hit the “download” button, and the download shortly reached full speed.

This game was pretty large. Hopefully it wasn’t a virus!

He hesitated. When he was about to cancel the download, it showed “download completed!” on his cell phone.

Almost at the same time, the downloading page disappeared. The app store went back to the home page automatically.

He put the keyword “pet” in the search bar again.

“Oh really?! Nothing?!”

The result showed nothing was matching his keyword.

He didn’t want to give up yet. He added “hunter” after “pet” as keywords, but still nothing came up.

“This game is really a limited time download… What does the developer want?” he murmured to himself, confused.

Developers made games for marketing. The more players there were, the broader the influence. The broader the influence, the more money the game would make. Even free games earned reputation for the developer. Limiting the time to download meant limiting traffic. Who would do something like that?

A dialogue popped up on his cell phone: Install?

He chose “Yes.”

Installing…

Installation completed. “Confirmed” or “Open”?

He chose “Open.”

Initiating game…

The logo of “Pet Hunter” showed up on the screen.

[Game Hint]: This is an augmented reality game. It requires you to turn on your mobile camera and needs your location information.

[Game Hint]: This is your first time entering the game. Please register an account.

[Game Hint]: “Register for free” or “Have an account? Log in immediately.”

He chose “Register for free.”

[Game Hint]: To ensure user uniqueness and login safety, we need to record your fingerprint. Please place your finger in the fingerprint recognition area and record from different angles as per the instructions.

“Record fingerprints?! What if it’s a scam…” He frowned.

He used the fingerprints on his right hands for online banking. Just in case it was a scam, he used his left hand to record the fingerprints.

[Game Hint]: Fingerprint recorded successfully. Logging in automatically…

The background looked like the deep dark night. A shining white light was jumping lightly.

[Navigation Elf]: Hello! Welcome to Pet Hunter’s World. I am your navigation elf.

[Navigation Elf]: I will try my best to assist you throughout the game. I hope that we can experience an extraordinary adventure together.

The sudden voice caught him off guard. He almost threw away his cell phone.

[Navigation Elf]: If you encounter any problems during the game, feel free to contact me!

“Ugh, is it the customer service representative? How do I contact her…I don’t see where to input words…” Zhang Zian was speaking to himself, feeling confused.

[Navigation Elf]: You may speak to me!

“Really?! You can hear me?!” he asked, once again surprised.

[Navigation Elf]: Yes! I can hear you nice and clear!

“OMG! This is a 24-hour one-on-one customer service representative! No wonder the download was limited…” He shrugged his shoulders and thought, “This game must be high in costs. How come I didn’t see the developer’s name… What is it? Hiding from fame?”

[Navigation Elf]: This is your first login. Before launching the game, would you like to go through the beginner tutorial? Alternatively, you may skip the tutorial and start immediately.

“What’s your recommendation? Is this game difficult?” he asked.

[Navigation Elf]: You are unable to save your state during the game. For a better experience, I recommend you take the beginner tutorial.

“Okay, whatever you say. Let’s start the beginner tutorial,” he said.

[Navigation Elf]: Beginner tutorial starting, retrieving data…