Chapter 58

When these refreshed on the screen, Li Shuoxing had completely forgotten the Christmas event of the previous system update.

Anyway, it was still so far away from Christmas. There was still time to wait another ten days before starting the event!

He started checking the three notes on the plane ticket.

He first clicked on the location in the first note.

The game jumped to the phone’s map, on which the marked location was displayed. Li Shuoxing took a look.

Downtown, not too far from his home.

Just forty minutes away.

It was really… reality.

Although he’d prepared for this, Li Shuoxing still felt a little complicated at that moment. He couldn’t tell what he was feeling. After sitting in his seat with his phone in his hand for a while, he exhaled, returned to the game and clicked on the second purchase link.

When the link was clicked, the game then jumped to the Taobao interface.

Li Shuoxing took a look at the item that popped up.

Binocular depth camera.

Then he took a look at the item’s price.

1248.

Li Shuoxing: “…”

Li Shuoxing: “???”

Although his inner world had become garbled, it wasn’t the first time he’d been cheated money. Li Shuoxing maintained the expression on his face and even managed to smile calmly. He explained to himself.

After all, it’s a pay-to-win game.

Just like authors, game makers don’t do charity work. They have to make a living too.

If they release an event, then of course they have to make some money.

We’re all adults.

One hand gives money and one hand gives happiness. How simple is that.

…

This trash game is getting more and more powerful. It’s not enough to cheat money, it even sells game peripherals.

Do you think you’re a company that sells Pikachu balls?

You’re not.

You’re three times more expensive than they are.

Shit.

You win.

Then, the explaining and the venting were over.

Li Shuoxing took a deep breath and calmed back down. He began thinking.

The game first requires the purchase of an external device, and it says there’ll be VR interaction. Obviously, this external device is a requirement to enable VR interaction. If I think about it in this regard, the external device is really necessary to purchase. I might even get to actually touch the cub.

And this purchase link…

Li Shuoxing looked at the Taobao page and confirmed.

International company.

Well-known brand.

It shouldn’t be possible for it to partner with a trash app to cheat money or harm people.

But Li Shuoxing didn’t purchase it straight away.

He got up, changed his clothes, and got ready to go out.

Taobao purchases had to be delivered by courier. The soonest he could get it would be tomorrow.

Too slow.

I’ll go out and buy the thing first, then go to the system’s designated destination, and I’ll be able to use the plane ticket straight away.

Fortunately, yesterday I considered that there’s a large event today that would take a lot of time, so I wrote a lot in the evening and finished off the six thousand I was supposed to write today.

This thought suddenly flashed through Li Shuoxing’s mind at the critical moment.

Otherwise, halfway there, if the cub suddenly brings up writing.

It’d be too hurtful to the atmosphere…

***

When he went out, he first bought the designated item, then went to the designated location. Everything went smoothly, only taking two and a half hours to settle everything.

And now, it was only a little past 10am.

Li Shuoxing was quite satisfied with his efficiency. After he made his preparations, he went back on the game and said to Su Mingqian, who had understood everything and had been waiting for him, “Cub, I’ve got everything prepared. Shall we start now?”

Su Mingqian nodded.

Li Shuoxing told him again, “Cub, don’t be nervous. I’ll be with you no matter what happens.”

With that, he didn’t delay and used the plane ticket straight away.

A deep and mysterious blue light gate appeared in the courtyard again, connecting the known world at one end and leading to the unknown past at the other.

Su Mingqian passed through the gate with nervousness and anticipation.

The familiar house and courtyard swirled out of his sight, and unfamiliar streets and people swirled in.

Streets and people?

Su Mingqian froze for a few seconds.

More scenes entered his eyes.

No mistake, this was a bustling metropolis, with clean streets, high-rise buildings, people moving about and heavy traffic.

I’m finally back in the crowd?

When he found that he seemed to have finally come out from his captivity, joy fell like a seed into Su Mingqian’s heart.

Before he could do anything, an unfamiliar voice came from beside him.

“Professor, the taxi to the cafe has arrived. I’ll be off then. I’ll see you in the afternoon.”

Su Mingqian followed the voice and saw a young blonde woman standing beside him. She was pointing at a taxi parked in front of him and talking to him with a smile.

Su Mingqian subconsciously asked, “Who are you?”

The woman spoke again, with the same words.

“Professor, the taxi to the cafe has arrived. I’ll be off then. I’ll see you in the afternoon.”

Su Mingqian: “You—”

The woman repeated for the third time, “Professor, the taxi to the…”

Su Mingqian took a step back.

He bumped into the person behind him.

But the person he bumped into didn’t react, didn’t make a sound, didn’t pause, didn’t even change his posture, but just kept walking forward.

It wasn’t just this person.

Everyone here was like this.

Su Mingqian touched them and no one reacted; Su Mingqian spoke to them and no one reacted either.

Su Mingqian finally looked at the woman who stood beside him from the beginning.

The woman kept smiling and said the same thing she always said.

“Professor, the…”

Joy had withered before it could grow and bloom.

Standing beside the street, Su Mingqian shivered.

There was noise all around, but this noise was just like the people here, creating another kind of silence with monotony and repetition.

He didn’t even know which was more terrifying, the present silence or the past silence.

He murmured, “Ximu…”

Li Shuoxing’s voice sounded at the same time. “I’m here!”

Li Shuoxing stood in the same spot as Su Mingqian.

Inside and outside the game, they seemed to really overlap.

But now, Li Shuoxing didn’t have the leisure to feel complicated. He had already seen the little person in a very bad state, bumping and stumbling on his phone screen. He quickly said, “Cub, I’m here. Don’t be nervous. Nothing can hurt you!”

But only this consolation was too thin.

Li Shuoxing continued to speak, almost blurting out the truth in his anxiety, “Cub, don’t worry. Think carefully. Is this everything you’ve come to experience in the past?”

The moment his voice fell.

The little person walking around in a panic in the game slowly steadied his pace.

A moment later, Su Mingqian’s voice sounded. Although it was still tenser and hoarser than usual, his voice was more or less steady. “You said, this is my past?”

Li Shuoxing let out a sigh of relief. “Yes.”

Su Mingqian asked quietly, “Ximu, why do you think so?”

“Cub, the travel log with your past information appeared after we went to the Grand Canyon last time…” Li Shuoxing paused and said with deliberation, “So, I think what is putting you through this now may not just be trying to control and hurt you, but something deeper.”

“Even so…” Su Mingqian whispered, “what people and technology should do all this?”

This time Su Mingqian’s voice was too quiet for Li Shuoxing to hear.

He asked, “Cub, what did you say?”

Su Mingqian was barely calm. He shook his head. “Nothing. Since all this now is perhaps everything I’ve encountered… then should I follow the directions here and get on the taxi first?”

Li Shuoxing replied affirmatively, “Get on the taxi. I’ll also take a taxi to follow you.”

Su Mingqian nodded again.

This time, instead of running away from the blonde woman, he pulled open the taxi door in front of him and got in, following her directions. As soon as he entered, he heard the taxi driver say, “To XX Square, right?”

After he said that, without waiting for Su Mingqian’s reply, he stepped on the accelerator and drove forward.

Su Mingqian in the car only had time to turn his head and look at where the blonde woman stood. With this look, he saw the woman, who originally could only say one thing, turn around as if she’d gotten a new command, with her back towards the direction the car was driving, slowly leaving…

In the game, Su Mingqian had gotten into the taxi.

Outside the game, Li Shuoxing also finally raised his hand, beckoned a taxi and got into it.

Taxi driver: “Where to?”

“To…” Li Shuoxing almost forgot where he was going and hurried back into the game to look at the narration. “XX Square.”

Doing a task was really windy.

Li Shuoxing was convinced.

Without another word, the taxi driver also stepped on the accelerator.

Inside and outside the game, two cars, carrying two people, travelled on the same road, to the same destination.

This taxi ride wasn’t long.

They arrived at the destination before the starting price had even been driven.

After getting out of the car, Su Mingqian looked around.

He found the situation here the same as earlier. There was a lot of noise and a lot of people, looking bustling, but he couldn’t communicate with anyone here. It felt like… they existed in one space and he existed in another.

Su Mingqian avoided them.

He was afraid to touch them.

They made him feel false.

Then, the strong sense of falsehood was pierced by another vivid voice.

Li Shuoxing: “…Eh, cub, I know this place!”

Su Mingqian: “What?”

The game distracted Li Shuoxing too much.

Even when he saw familiar place names one after another, Li Shuoxing didn’t think too much.

After all, this was the city he grew up in. No place name was unfamiliar to him.

It wasn’t until he was in the scene that Li Shuoxing reacted abruptly. “This is the square near my university. When I was in university and had nothing to do, I came here to hang out… I never thought we’d come to come to such a place.”

Su Mingqian’s heart was stirred by what he said.

A few gaps seemed to appear in the heavy accumulation of dark clouds in his heart, a ray or two of light spilling down from them.

Li Shuoxing then analysed, “Let’s go find the cafe first. There are quite a few cafes here. I don’t know which cafe you went to, but we can talk to the waiters. Whoever talks is the place you’ve been to in your memory.”

With that, Li Shuoxing began directing Su Mingqian forward.

They went through the crowd and investigated the cafes in the square one by one.

This one wasn’t

Another one wasn’t.

And another one wasn’t.

When another cafe came into their sight, Li Shuoxing recognised it as the one he had frequented before.

He guided the cub into the cafe with familiarity and watched Su Mingqian talk to the waitress he knew. “Is there a seat?”

Su Mingqian finished his question and prepared to move on.

He’d gotten used to the silence and stiffness of these people.

This time, however, the waitress looked up and smiled. “Sir, do you need a quiet seat? Then sit in the corner of our shop. It’s very quiet there. A customer who wrote novels used to come by every other day and sit over there to write…”

Inside and outside the game.

Li Shuoxing and Su Mingqian were stunned.

Su Mingqian: “…Is she talking about you, Ximu?”

Li Shuoxing was bewildered. “Uh, it should be me. I never thought I’d make an appearance in this way?”

Although he had tacitly acknowledged that the little person was a real person, both AI scientists and the United States were too far away from Li Shuoxing. All he knew and recognised was the little person in the game.

Until now.

This cafe was one he’d been in, and this waitress was one he knew.

When he heard the waitress bring him up to the little person.

He had the sudden feeling that this had happened in the real world.

In the real world, perhaps he had been here and crossed paths with Su Mingqian.

Fate was made up of countless coincidences.

These unknown coincidences were so romantic.