Recently, the game “Mingchao” launched a new five-star resonator “Xiakong”, accompanied by a detailed and complex list of materials. It seems to be just a cultivation guide within the game, but it can’t help but remind people of the living conditions of many young people in today’s society: struggling in the gap between virtual and reality, and getting lost under layers of complicated rules. Through this list, it seems that we can see a group of young people trapped in a digital cage, who are anxious and tired, but still eager to break through.

This list of materials is dazzling. The so-called low-frequency tide erosion sail core, medium frequency, high frequency, full frequency, plus different levels of crystallized phlogiston, and rare materials such as burning phosphorus bones and golden wool, the number is amazing. It takes dozens or even hundreds of various materials and millions of shells to cultivate “Xiakong” from level zero to full level. Behind these boring numbers are the endless labor and consumption of countless players-time, energy, and even money.

How ironic, countless young people in real life are also experiencing similar hardships. Like the players in the game, they desperately “brushed materials” and strived for “upgrades”, but there was no end in sight. Rent, utilities, overtime, workplace competition… This reality is heavier than the game materials, and it destroys their body and mind. The virtual world of the game has become a haven for escaping reality, but it is also the beginning of another kind of consumption.

What is more interesting is the recharge discount and discount code set in the game, which encourages players to exchange money for time and shorten the growth cycle. Isn’t this a microcosm of real society? In order not to be eliminated in the workplace, young people have to spend money to participate in various trainings, improve skills, and purchase resources. And this consumption of money, like an invisible chain, binds their freedom and choice. Recharge for growth seems to have become a necessity in contemporary life.

The “burning phosphorus bones” and “golden fleece” in the game are clearly rare resources in the virtual world. Players need to defeat the powerful sighing ancient dragon, or go to specific maps to collect, and face purchase restrictions. In reality, young people also need to pay a huge price to obtain high-quality resources and opportunities. Scarcity creates value, and behind the value is cruel competition and unfair order. How many people are trapped in the “resource desert”, running around all day, but rarely have a glimmer of hope.

There are also props such as “Stuffed Meat Tofu” in the game, which can increase the material drop rate by 50% within a certain period of time. The short-term “addition” seems to bring hope to players, but it is just an illusory placebo. The various “quick success tips” in real life are also like this: short-term efficiency improvement cannot cover up the fundamental problem. In the process of pursuing efficiency, young people are becoming more and more mentally exhausted, as if they are endless machines.

Although this list of “Xiakong” materials is virtual development materials, it reflects the helplessness and suffering of real life like a mirror. Young people living in this era are like players in the game, bound by layers of complex systems, and watching the long and difficult path of growth. The boundaries between the game world and the real society are gradually blurred, and their freedom and choices are constantly restricted by rules and capital.

Mr. Lu Xun once said: “Hope is attached to existence. If there is existence, there is hope. If there is hope, there is light.” But where is the light for today’s young people? They are trapped in complex rules and pressures, and their inner hope is crushed by reality. The growth system of virtual games is their sustenance and their shackles. No wonder many people are addicted to the virtual world, trying to find a ray of respite, but they don’t know that this is also another hard labor.

However, facing this dilemma itself is a kind of hope. Through this list of materials, we see the struggle of young people and their silent pain. Society needs more understanding and care, giving them space to breathe and reshape, rather than treating them as endless resource miners.

In short, the “Summer Sky” material list is just a microcosm, reflecting the struggle and confusion of contemporary young people between reality and virtuality. May we no longer let them become victims of cold rules, but become people with dignity, hope and future. After all, life is not a game, but everyone longs for a clear “Summer Sky” of their own.