In a room of about 20 square meters, the curtains were closed tightly.
The computer screen’s cold light reflected the house’s humble layout, an old wall-mounted air-conditioner, a neat single bed, and a wardrobe. That was all the furniture in the room.
In the room, Ye You’s fingers were dancing around on the computer, making snapping sounds of “click click click” that was intensely rhythmic.
He was playing Dota with a friend with the ID: Neet Hime. They played Dota 1. Not many people are willing to play this over-the-top competitive matchmaking game these days.
Ye You and Neet Hime did not meet in QQ (Chinese chat platform) nor the game. They met on a chat platform that had never been seen before on the Internet. It was a software that Ye You accidentally downloaded on the Internet.
At that time, He thought it was a virus and almost deleted it. However, when he saw the words ‘Dimensional Chat Room’, Ye You instantly installed it on his computer.
He was the only one at the time, and naturally, he became room leader. After that, Neet Hime joined in, and the two shared the same interest in playing games, and they soon became friends.
Neet Hime said, “We are about to win, and suddenly three people on this team, AFK?”
Ye You smiled. His ID was Blue Sky.
Blue Sky said, “It is midnight already, definitely time for a power outage in the university dorm.”
Neet Hime responded, “Helpless.jpg.”
At that moment, the opposite side also sent a message like, “Why don’t you quit?” “Do not waste time.” and “Will you hurry to the next one?”
“What about us?” asked Blue Sky.
Neet Hime answered, “Of course, it is more fun to keep playing against the wind, isn’t it.”
Blue Sky happily replied, “Haha! Of course.”
As long as their base did not destroy, they would never surrender. It is the spirit of the tower pushing game. Ye You has also played League of Legends and 300 Heroes, but never knew what it meant to surrender, must fight till the end. So was Neet Hime.
Their shared understanding on this point was incomparably strong. The game can be lost, but one cannot be defeated. There was always a chance to win. A 2v5 win was not a miracle on Dota.
Pay attention to the opponent’s heroes’ equipment, always observe the enemy creep line to ensure the field vision is cleared.
As long as the equipment was ahead, they could flip the game by breaking the other team before they grew up. The comeback was real.
Ye You used Spectre, late hero; Neet Hime used Invoker, manipulative hero. Through the QWE combo order, it could switch ten skills. It was the hardest hero to used, micro-management, and control of the hero.
After that, the two of them operated fiercely as a tiger. Map control and high-level equipment completely crush the other side. Watching the enemy’s base blast away, Ye You’s tense heart and mind finally relaxed.
Switch to the chat room.
Blue Sky said, “Won it. Your Invoker is the best. Did you just play Dota last week?”
Neet Hime replied, “It is because I am a genius.”
Although it was a show-off, Ye You did not deny it.
Neet Hime was really good at playing games. No matter what game it was, once she played it once, she would be up to master in no time.
This jaw-dropping learning ability made Ye You realize that geniuses did exist in the world.
Blue Sky typed, “I am going offline. Let us play again tomorrow.”
Neet Hime said, “Eh? It is only at 12 P.M. Are you so cruel to leave me? 12 P.M. How is that… Usually, it is the beginning of the golden hour for entertainment.”
“I have recently enrolled in a Japanese class, and I want to learn Japanese. So I can eat raw meat (Anime without subtitles) in the future, and now that the age of copyright is coming. The room for survival for subtitlers is getting smaller and smaller, so it is time to earn my own living and make a contribution.” He said.
Neet Hime asked, “Learning Japanese?”
“Yes, wanna learn together?” Ye You had invited, it would be more motivating if the two of them were together and could monitor each other.
Nevertheless, Neet Hime showed hesitation, “Wait, when you say you are learning Japanese, does that mean you do not know Japanese?”
Blue Sky replied, “Yeah, what is so strange about me not knowing Japanese?”
Neet Hime asked, “So, what language and communication are you using now?”
Ye You thought it was strange to Neet Hime’s question. But back again.
Blue Sky replied, “I typed Chinese characters, and still using the Sogou pinyin.”
“Wait.” She said.
Then Neet Hime sent a picture over with a Japanese version chat style, “This is my side of the chat window, send me a screenshot of your side.”
Ye You looked at the picture sent by Neet Hime and stunned for a while, then sent a screenshot of the two chattings’ interface.
Neet Hime said, “It is strange.”
Ye You looked at the screenshot of her chat room window that Neet Hime sent over, and the chat on it was in Japanese?
He sank his eyebrows, and for a split second, two possibilities crossed his mind. First was that Neet Hime was teasing him with photoshop. Second, this chat room comes with a translation feature.
Of course, there was a third possibility… but Ye You felt that speculation was so absurd that even as a writer himself, it was hard to believe.
A chat room with a self-translation function was unheard of. Even while playing the game, Neet Hime seems to be able to read this side of the words.
Then, wasn’t there a one in a million chance that was a ghost or something unreal?
However, was it real?
Such a thought grew wildly in Ye You’s mind. How much reason to deny it, it could not help feeling that it was about to burst from his chest. Ye You felt his scalp go numb.
Neet Hime, when it comes to this word, as long as you know a little bit about ACGN (Animation, Comic, Game, and Novel). Of course, the first reaction was Houraisan Kaguya in the Touhou Project. Moreover, as a person who understands ACGN, Ye You, of course, immediately reacted to it.
Not to mention that when the first time he dealt with Neet Hime, Ye You said, “Hello, Kaguya.” At that time, the other person was surprised and said, “How do you know my name?”. Ye You only thought that Neet Hime was lying about it and did not think much of it.
However, if she was HouraisanKaguya, it all seems to make sense. Perhaps, this dimensional chat room was literally a platform capable of connecting dimensions, as they say. “Calm down. Ye You, calm down. How can there be such a thing? it is just a chat room with a self-translation function, and be called dimensional chat or something is too much.”
Furthermore, there was a chance that the screenshot was photoshop. Nevertheless, people were never willing to believe only what they believe. What if it was real? What if! “And how to prove it?”
Ask her directly if she was the one from House of Eternity, HouraisanKaguya? Didn’t they admit it back when we first met, so what was the point of asking now?
However, there are others in the chat room, Humanoid Interface. Is this person… Nagato Yuki from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya? She had been gone since she came in, and Ye You had almost forgotten she existed. “Should I ask her?”
Ye You was trembling his fingers privately chatted with the person whose ID was Humanoid Interface.
Blue Sky asked, “Are you Nagato Yuki? Do you know Suzumiya Haruhi?”
Just after sending it, Ye You regretted it. Moreover, the other person has been silent and has not returned the message. He held his head, “Ah, what the hell am I doing, like an idiot.”
That was when Neet Hime sent a message.
Neet Hime replied, “Hey, Blue Sky, are you still there? I just asked Eirin for advice. She said we might not be in the same world. I thought you were from outside fantasy land. Hehehehe, this seems to be getting interesting.”
Hey, that kind of statement makes me even more…
Ye You shook his head, “It does seem so… First, I will research it. I will tell you if anything is interesting later.”
Ye You extremely restrained his emotions, making himself not seem as chaotic as his inner world.
Neet Hime said, “Hmm, I will look into it too.”
Ye You took a deep breath. He felt a bit off from common sense in the past, but now the more he thinks about it, the more strange it becomes.
People were like that. If something felt unordinary, it would be made us reject it.
However, as soon as the mind was convinced of something, the thoughts would be shift all in that direction, even if the brain was ‘convinced’ that what you believe was correct.
Ye You looked fixedly at the screen. He was trying to confirm if this is a way to connect the dimensions. It seems like… there was.
Nevertheless, that method was too perverted, Ye You smiled then and did not say anything. However, now, he might as well try it.